Island Hopping
by ZareEraz
Summary: ZoroxLuffy. As captain and crew journey through their many adventures, we'll be taking peeks into the little moments that pop up in Luffy and Zoro's lives. There will be a little love, a bit of worry, a dash of anger and frustration, and a whole lot of drama and excitement as these two find their crewmates and find places in each other's hearts. Fluff and other good stuff!
1. Captain and First Mate

A/N: ZareEraz here! My best bud HeartQueenVivaldi requested a ZoroxLuffy fic and this is what I came up with. We'll be following Zoro and Luffy and the rest of the crew as they go on their adventures, so there'll be about one chapter per island that they visit. And I'm warning you up front that I'll be updating this as HQV and I watch One Piece (me for a second time - yes, I know I'm crazy) so depending on the story arc there will probably be huge breaks in between updates...but I hope the wait will be worth it! My goals for this fic is that we get to see how Luffy and Zoro's relationship changes as time goes on, so there will be innocent moments and fluff, along with some painful emotions and worry on both sides. But I wish that this be an enjoyable story for everyone who reads it. And don't forget to let me know what you think and I'm open to suggstions in my PM box! Happy reading! :3

Chapter 1: Captain and First Mate

"Hey! Zoro!" Luffy shouted, running around to the other side of their little ship as the sun started to set.

"Yeah? What is it?" The swordsman answered, turning to look at his new captain. They really made a strange crew and all, just the two of them on this tiny boat. But it could be worse, he supposed. He could still be tied up at the Marine base just waiting to die and thinking that he was going to live if he lasted the month. And if he managed that, where would he be now? Hunting new prey or just wandering around on that island until a ship passed his way onto some place that was hopefully better? Or he'd be dead. But he wasn't any of those things now. He was a pirate and he was stuck with an idiot for a captain.

"Hey, Zoro! I brought the booze!" Luffy zoomed around the corner, holding a bottle of beer and two mugs, a huge smile on his face. "Let's drink to a new crewmember!"

"Idiot," Zoro rolled his eyes at his new captain. "I'm your only crewmember."

"So…you don't want to drink?" The boy asked, his smile dropping off his face. Zoro reached out and grabbed the bottle and one of the mugs, smirking.

"I never said that." He purred, pouring himself a mug.

"Great! Shi shi shi!" Luffy laughed and thrust out his mug in front of him. "Fill 'er up!"

"Aye, aye, captain." Zoro did as he was told and filled up the rubber boy's cup before putting the bottle down. They raised their glasses to the dimming sky, smiles on their faces for whatever adventure lay ahead.

"To my first crewmember, Zoro!" Luffy shouted as loud as he could, his grin widening.

"And to my idiot captain." Zoro shouted back before downing his drink. Luffy started to drink his before he realized his first mate had insulted him.

"I'm not an idiot!" Luffy snapped back.

"Yes you are." Zoro replied, wiping his mouth as he finished his first of many glasses.

"No, I'm not! You're the idiot!" Luffy retorted, his face screwing up in a good-natured anger.

"No, you are!" Zoro shot back. "Who goes looking for a crew before they even have a ship that's bigger than a dinghy?"

"This boat is bigger than a dinghy!"

"Not by much." Zoro chuckled.

"Just you wait! Someday we're going to find an awesome boat that waaaaaay cool and has a lot of sails and a huge fridge and we'll go to the Grand Line on it! It'll also have a cool figurehead and a huge mast and it'll be great!" Luffy went on and on about their cool new ship that they were going to have someday when they found it somewhere, and Zoro let him chatter on and on as the sun dipped below the sea. Luffy fell asleep quickly after a few mugs of alcohol, and he conveniently fell asleep on top of Zoro's legs once they'd sat down, but as long as the swordsman could reach the half full bottle of beer, he was content right where he was.

He looked down at the young man passed out with his head in his lap and chuckled to himself, wondering how the hell he'd let this kid drag him into some crazy scheme to be King of the Pirates. But it was nice, nice to be included in someone else's dreams (no matter how insane they were) while he was searching for his own. It was something that he'd done long ago with a girl who died too soon, but even if their situations were similar, all Zoro could say was that Luffy looked like he could get into a lot more trouble than Kuina. Anything his captain did was sure to be an adventure, he could already tell that much even though they'd only known each other for a short time.

And he'd be along for the ride. What had he gotten himself into?

A/N: And there you go! This one was short and sweet for ya and full of fluff so I hope you liked it! See you all later! :3


	2. Three's a Crowd

A/N: ZareEraz here! Chapter two is locked and loaded! Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Three's a Crowd

Zoro was resting on their ship, sleeping while sitting on the floor and leaning against the side with his arms behind his head like he always did. He was exhausted after fighting with the Buggy Pirates and the hole in his gut didn't help matters at all, and it hurt every time he moved. And apparently he wasn't the only one who was worried.

"Hey, Zoro? You okay?" Luffy asked, leaning into the swordsman's space and looking at the bandages wrapped around Zoro's bare torso.

"I'm fine, Luffy." Zoro sighed, cracking one eye open after being awoken from his nap.

"You sure?" The boy asked, tipping his head to the side in curiosity. "That seemed like a pretty bad wound."

"It'll heal." He huffed back. But he did find in nice that Luffy was worried – usually he just chattered on and stuffed his face with whatever was edible (and a few that weren't – like plates). Zoro put up a manly front for all the attention he was getting and was about to brush off his injuries when he was interrupted.

"Hey, Luffy. Here's your hat." Nami, the new navigator, called, tossing Luffy's newly fixed, signature straw hat back to him from the deck of her stolen ship. It was a small craft she'd swindled out of a few of Buggy's cronies and she'd been doing pretty well for herself financially, seeing as how she'd just stolen quite a bit of treasure. She was a nice looking girl with big boobs, brains and a fiery temper, but those things weren't why Zoro was being so temperamental since they'd set sail. He was temperamental because now Luffy's attention was divided between the two of them instead of being focused on him. It was like when two best friends found another best friend and one of them got jealous – it was just hard to have to share.

"Thanks, Nami!" Luffy shouted, stretching his arm to snag his hat out of the air and recoiled to place it on his head. He then plopped down on the deck facing Zoro, but still in view of Nami who was leaning on the side of her ship. "Isn't she the best? She fixed my hat for me! I was so pissed when Buggy ruined it!"

"Yeah, yeah. That's great." Zoro sighed, not really enthusiastic about "Nami's greatness." It was in his nature to be wary of new comers, he used to be a bounty hunter after all and you didn't stay alive in that profession for trusting everyone you met. He was about to say so to Luffy (quietly of course because Nami was _right there_ ) but he got interrupted again.

"Do you guys know where you're going?" Nami asked, looking towards their heading.

"Nope! Shi shi shi!" Luffy laughed. "We don't know how to navigate!" Zoro pulled a face at the blockhead for revealing that they were kind of disappointments of pirates in that area.

"Ug, you guys are hopeless, crazy idiots!" Nami grumbled, wondering how she ever got mixed up with those two. "How do you not know how to navigate if you're sea-faring pirates?!"

"Dunno!" Luffy laughed again. "I just go where the wind takes me!"

"Never really thought about it." Zoro sighed, wishing that she would go away and that he could sleep in peace.

"You two amaze me. I'm surprised you haven't died yet, you're so stupid." Nami gave then hard stares, and looked at the horizon again.

"We almost starved before we met you!" Luffy piped up again. Zoro groaned at having another of their mishaps slipping out. Apparently there were no secrets with Luffy.

"Why am I not surprised?" Nami shook her head. "I'll do the navigating and you do the work, m'kay? That way…no one's slacking off."

"Aw, come on!" Luffy whined at the prospect of work.

"I'm sleeping." Zoro turned away from the woman and tried to go to sleep again.

"GET Off YOUR ASSES AND DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE WITH YOURSELVES! I'm still pissed at you for leaving my treasure behind so get moving and make up for it!" Nami howled as she threw an apple off her ship at Luffy. The rubber man laughed again and caught the snack in his mouth before sling-shoting himself up on top of the tiny mast of their ship and "keeping a lookout." Mostly, he was just looking for birds. Zoro, on the other hand, went back to sleep, knowing that if Nami could scared Luffy into line, even for a little bit, then she couldn't be all that bad. He'd just have to learn to like her, especially when Luffy's mind was set her being their navigator. Three was a crowd, but it wasn't _that_ unmanageable.

A/N: And there you go! See you all next time! :3


	3. Moving House

A/N: ZareEraz here! I have another rapid update for you so enjoy! :3

Chapter 3: Moving House

"Oh wow! Zoro look at this!" Luffy was running all over their new ship, leaping up onto the railings and swinging himself up into the sails to see it all.

"Yeah, Luffy. I see." Zoro was looking over the ship as it left Syrup Village behind them. His meager pile of belongings were at his feet, and so were Luffy's because the boy couldn't be bothered with putting them somewhere when he had a ship to moon over. They didn't have much, but while they'd been together each of them had picked up a few things here and there. For his part, Zoro had a few changes of clothes and equipment to care for his swords, but other than that, he didn't have a lot. Luffy had one other shirt, one pair of shorts, half of a pair of sandals, and a few "cool" things that he'd found on various islands. Out of all of them, Usopp had the most stuff, but Nami wasn't too far behind. It was a good thing the ship was big enough to hold all of it.

"I told you we'd get an awesome ship, didn't I? This is so cool!" The rubber mans' eyes sparkled as he shot over to the figurehead and plopped right down between the Merry's horns. "This is the captain's spot!" He shouted.

"Then it shall be my spot!" A rather annoying voice shouted back, striking a pose with his foot on the railing outside the kitchen. "For I am Captain Usopp!"

"No! Usopp I'm the captain!" Luffy snapped back, glaring at their new friend.

"You'd better get over that fast, Usopp." Zoro sighed, rubbing his neck. "Luffy's more persistent that you are."

"Whatever." Usopp huffed, playing it cool. "Well, I'm going to go get the best bed!"

"No you're not! The best and only bed is mine!" Nami shouted from her newly claimed room. Usopp quailed under her fury.

"Whatever you say…" He mumbled, sweat running down his face. "Then…I'm going to get the best hammock! The one on the top!" Usopp shot down into the ship, heading for the boy's quarters.

"No! I'm on the top!" Luffy shouted, jumping off his spot and running down the stairs at lightning speed after the liar. His hat came flying off his head butt the boy stretched his arm back and caught it before it hit the ground and dragged it along with him. Usopp laughed manically and disappeared into the Merry with Luffy close behind. Zoro rolled his eyes at Luffy's choice of words, but then realized that he hadn't picked out a hammock either…and that he was quickly losing his chance to sleep near Luffy (even if he did tend to sleep everywhere at anytime) and that was unacceptable.

"Crap!" Zoro shot off down into the ship as well, hot on the heels of his captain and their new crewmate. "Get back here you two!" All of a sudden the deck was quiet, a nice change from the usual ruckus that Nami had expected from her companions. But the quiet was quickly interrupted by fighting downstairs, muffled by the Merry but loud enough that she knew that those boys were getting into trouble.

"What got into him?" Nami said to herself, after watching the odd swordsman dash after the others. And then she smiled, figuring some of it out. "Oh, I see." She giggled to herself and went back to making sure they were on course.

A/N: And there you go! See you all later! :3


	4. Solemn Vow

A/N: ZareEraz here! This is one of my favorite episodes in the series because its one of those where the dynamic of the crew changes a bit. Up until this point, Zoro was mostly a part of Luffy's crew to make his own ambitions come true, but by the end of his fight with Mihawk, that changes: he is now also fighting for Luffy's dream as well as his own. It's really sweet and I hope I did it justice! Enjoy! :3

Chapter 4: Solemn Vow

 _ZOOOORRRROOOOO!"_ That was Luffy, screaming his name. _NOOOOOOOOOO!_ Luffy was calling out to him, but all he could think of was the pain. The pain in his chest and the pain slicing across his whole body…it was Mihawk. That's right. Mihawk fought him…and he lost. He just wasn't good enough, the difference in their strength and technique was too great. He'd been toyed with the whole fight up until the end, when Mihawk got serious. And he'd lost. He was going to die now, sliced open like an animal, his life snuffed out like a dying candle.

He'd failed. He'd failed his captain.

 _You shouldn't rush these things, young man._ A smooth voice broke through the pain, amber eyes staring straight through him. Zoro could hear Mihawk and he could feel the pain, but he couldn't sense death creeping over him as he fell into the sea. He was in so much pain that he had to be alive, the salt of the ocean stinging like hell. He floated for only a few moments before two sets of hands were dragging him up to the surface. He gasped, coughing up blood. Luffy was yelling again, but he couldn't hear it very well. Usopp's voice was far away too, even though it was right next to him, saying something about medicine. He couldn't concentrate very well through his suffering, but he did hear Mihawk's shout, telling the swordsman to find him when he was stronger. That he could promise. And…he had one more promise to make.

Zoro opened his eyes and saw Jonny and Yosaku on either side of him. Jonny was holding his sword – Kunia's sword – and he reached for it.

"He's alive!" Usopp shouted. "He was just unconscious!"

"Big Bro!" Jonny and Yosaku cheered.

"If you're alive then say something!" Jonny had tears running down his face as he spoke.

"Zoro!" That voice was Luffy's and it was so far away. Zoro drew his sword, hoping that his voice would reach his captain. He held up the Wado Ichimonji and sealed another promise on its blade.

"Luffy!" He shouted, his voice thick and breaking. "Can you hear me?" Each word, each breath was agony on his lungs and torn skin, but he still forced it out, no matter the pain.

"Yeah!" Came the reply. He knew that Luffy was looking over at the ship, that he could see his sword if nothing else. And that's all that mattered.

"I'm sorry for disappointing you. I know that you need nothing less than the best swordsman in the world." Zoro admitted his failure, and it was harder than he ever thought it would be. He had so much pride that being defeated so quickly was stinging more than his wounds. But he had to do this, for his captain and his friend. "I let you down…please forgive me." He coughed, blood flying out of his mouth, the strain of talking with a sliced chest starting to be too much.

"Okay! Okay! You can stop saying things!" Yosaku pleaded, tears running down his face too.

"Big Bro!"

"I solemnly swear…from this moment forward…" Zoro choked out, squeezing the hilt of his sword with what was left of his strength, tears rolling down his cheeks as he faced his new vow. "I will never lose again, until the day comes when I defeat him and take his title!" The blade of the Wado Ichimonji shined, filled with a new purpose alongside the old one. "I will never, _never_ be defeated! Is that okay? King of the Pirates?" _Is that okay, Luffy?_

He could hear Luffy's laugh loud and clear, and he could feel the smile on Luffy's face.

"Yep!" It was one word, the one word that validated his existence on the crew, the one word that forgave him for his failure and let him know that he was still Luffy's friend. It was all Zoro needed to go on. He would fulfill his dreams and Luffy' failure would turn into a burning fire of ambition and desire and nothing would stop him from taking that title, the title of greatest swordsman in the world and he'd do it with the King of the Pirates by his side..

Zoro's sword dropped, his arm giving out, his body demanding rest as Usopp started to patch him up as best as he could. Luffy told them to go on and get Nami back, and he'd get Sanji to join their crew, that way, the five of them could set sail for the Grand Line. Zoro didn't pay attention to all the details, slipping in and out of consciousness, but with his sword lying at his side, he would do whatever it took to keep both of his promises.


	5. Patched Up

A/N: ZareEraz here! Another rapid fire update for you guys, aren't I nice? Teehee. I hope you enjoy this one too! Happy Reading! :3

Chapter 5: Patched Up

Luffy could hear Zoro bitching and moaning all the way down on the street during the party in Cocoyashi Village, and it didn't sound pleasant. And so, the rubberman decided it was time to pay a visit and shot up to the second floor of the doctor guy's clinic via the window. Luffy draped himself over the window sill, a hunk of meat in his hands and was surprised to find that he'd picked the window over Zoro's bed. The swordsman was sweating from head to toe as the doctor guy stitched him up proper this time, closing up his wound from Mihawk as quickly and precisely as he could despite the fact that Zoro was squirming around in pain.

"Don't you have a ship's doctor?" The doctor guy asked as Luffy poked his strawhat into the window.

"Doctor? Never thought of that! Great idea!" Luffy said. Zoro looked up and found his captain hovering above him from the window.

"Luffy…" Zoro panted, his voice strained from the pain of stitching up his body.

"But we need to get a musician first, right?" Luffy asked.

"Why's that?" Zoro asked.

"Because pirates really like to sing." Luffy answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And really, he wanted both a doctor and a musician , but he'd been stuck on the music thing for a while now. Zoro gave him a painful smile.

"That's true…but why is that first?" Zoro asked, finding the hugest flaw in Luffy's plan. But the boy ignored him and turned to the doctor guy.

"Hey, doctor. Where's Nami?" Luffy asked, pointing his bone of meat at the man helping them.

"Hm?" He replied.

"I haven't seen her around."

"Well, then," He started, turning away from the window to look at the wall, as if he was seeing something beyond the building itself. "If she's not in the village, then there's only one place she'd go."

"Okay." Luffy hopped through the window, careful not to rip his own bandages or reopen his wounds from his fight with Arlong.

"What are you doing now?" The doctor guy asked, putting the last two stitches in Zoro's torso and tying off the thread as the man hissed under him.

"I'm taking a break. I'm sleepy. Food will be there later." The boy replied, eating his current hunk of meat in one bite, bone and all.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that." Zoro chuckled.

"Whatever you say." The old man shrugged, finishing up with Zoro. Luffy flopped down on the bed next to his swordsman and took off his hat, placing it on his chest. The doctor left them alone after checking to make sure his charge's wounds were properly bandaged and set to rights (including Yosaku's and Jonny's and the two of them were peacefully sleeping) before leaving the room.

Luffy looked over at Zoro as the man shifted a little to get comfortable in the new bandages that wound around his torso and arms. He looked like he was still in a lot of pain, especially after fighting Hatchi without having his first wound taken care of. But despite that, Zoro put his hands behind his head and was about to fall asleep.

"Hey, Zoro." Luffy started.

"Hm?" The green-haired man grunted in response.

"I'm glad you're patched up now." Luffy laughed good naturedly. "You were pretty stupid back there, fighting while injured."

"Well, I say you were more stupid, getting stuck in that rock and sinking to the bottom of the sea and then getting your ass handed to you by Arlong." Zoro chuckled.

"I did not get my ass handed to me! I beat his ass!" Luffy shouted so loud that he startled Jonny and Yosaku from their dreams and had to apologize for the disturbance. They all settled down again for a nap, but Zoro was still smiling at his crewmate.

"You did kick his ass." He agreed.

"For Nami." Luffy replied. "We need her on our crew. She's our friend." He stated simply.

"Yeah." Zoro nodded.

"We've got lots of friends now, don't we, Zoro? Shi shi shi!" Luffy laughed.

"Yeah, but you're still the biggest idiot out of us all."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"What did you say?!"

"You heard me!"

"Shut up, Zoro!"

"Both of you shut up!" Yosaku and Jonny shouted, glaring at the pair. Luffy and Zoro stared at them for a minute before bursting into laugher, and then having to stop when they almost bust their stitches.

A/N: And there you go! See you all later! :3


	6. Die Fighting

A/N: ZareEraz here! I've got another update for you guys :3 Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Die Fighting

"You idiot! What were you thinking, letting Buggy trap you like that?! You could've died and then where would we be, HUH?!" Zoro shouted as the rain poured down on them. "Seriously?! All to stand where the King of the Pirates stood!"

"It was serious, Zoro!" Luffy argued. "I was only going to get to do this once!"

"But it was stupid that you dragged Buggy and the Marines into your little adventure!"

"Shut up!"

"Both of you shut up," Sanji sighed, running along with his crewmates through the streets of Loguetown. "You're like an old married couple."

"Shut up you!" Zoro and Luffy both snapped back at the cook, their pointy teeth and glaring eyes growling at him.

"Whatever." The cook shrugged, rolling his cigarette around in his mouth.

"But it was so cool how that lightning came out of nowhere, wasn't it?" Luffy's eyes sparkled at the memory.

"It was dumb luck! Buggy was about to cut your head off!" Zoro snarled. "Don't do shit like that again! You had me worried!"

"Aw! You were worried about me!" Luffy laughed, nearly slipping in his sandals on the wet cobblestones. Zoro was glad the darkness of the storm hid his slight blush.

"Of course I was! You're the one who dragged us all into this "King of the Pirates" dream of yours and you're going to finish it without dying and leaving us without a captain. How stupid would it be if you did die!? Where would we be!?"

"If I die fighting for my dream, then I die." Luffy said, a smile on his face. "I've always lived like that. I can't change now or else it wouldn't be worth dreaming."

"But what's the point of dying without fulfilling your dream?" Zoro shot back. Sanji fished out another cigarette as they argued, his old one was snuffed out by the rain.

"You almost did the same thing, remember? With Mihawk." Zoro knew that Luffy had got him there, but it seemed whenever there was something involving Luffy, Zoro didn't hold him to the same standards that he held himself too. If he died for his dream or his captain and crew, then that was alright, but Luffy dying…he couldn't stand the thought of that. Even as Buggy was swinging his sword down to separate Luffy's head from his neck, Zoro had still been trying to come up with a plan to save him, by cutting down the platform or any other crazy idea. He just couldn't let his captain die, no matter what. And that's why he was upset: Luffy was prone to lots of good luck like that lightning bolt that had fried Buggy and saved him, but what if his luck ever ran out? What then? It was a horrifying prospect.

"I guess that's why I'm so glad you guys showed up." Luffy had moved on and was still talking, even as Zoro thought. "I know you've got my back." The rubber man turned to smile at his swordsman and cook. "And Nami and Usopp too. We look out for each other, right?" And the huge smile on his face chased away all the anger and worry for a moment and Zoro found himself forgiving his captain's stupid actions.

"Right." Zoro nodded.

"BUT DON'T EVER SCARE US LIKE THAT AGAIN!" Sanji leapt up and planted his foot right into the back of Luffy's head and Zoro just gave him a shocked look. He hadn't known that the cook had been as pissed off as he had been.

"I'm sorry." Luffy mumbled with a huge swelling on his head. "But I can't make that promise."

"Idiot." Both the cook and the swordsman grumbled. Just then, they could hear the Marines behind them, shouting and trying to shoot at them. Zoro, Sanji and Luffy high tailed it down the street and Luffy grabbed Zoro's hand to pull him along, calling to Sanji to move his ass. Zoro smiled despite their situation and let himself be dragged along with Luffy with the wind at his back. Just like he always did.

A/N: And there you go! See you all Later!:3


	7. Priorities

A/N: ZareEraz here! I've got another update for ya! :3 We're getting close to where HQV and I are in One Piece so the updates aren't going to come as quickly as they have been after Little Garden, fair warning. But I hope you enjoy them when I do update! I'll see you soon! Enjoy! :3

Chapter 7: Priorities

"Do you think Apis is going to be okay?" Luffy asked as they sailed away from Warship Island. The captain of the Strawhat Pirates was lying down on Merry's head, his arms wrapped around her and his feet dangling off of her neck.

"You're the one who said she was going to be okay" Zoro asked, sitting against the railing of the Merry, his hands behind his head, legs crossed and swords placed next to him.

"Oh, yeah. That's right." Luffy remembered.

"You're hopeless." Zoro asked, cracking one of his eyes open, abandoning all thoughts of a nap while Luffy talked.

"Hey, Zoro! Look!" Luffy called, staring up at the sky excitedly.

"What?" And then his question was answered when a Millennial Dragon flew right above their ship, its shadow casting the deck into darkness, its wing nearly brushing the mast. "Holy shit!" Zoro was so startled that he scrambled to his feet only to realize that he was way too close to the stairs to begin with and lost his footing, tumbling down onto the lower deck painfully.

"It followed us!" Luffy laughed and jumped up. "Hey! Maybe it wants to join our crew!" Luffy pulled his arm back and started swinging it around and around, building up momentum.

"No, Luffy! We don't need a dragon on this ship!" Zoro shouted, picking himself up and scrambling up the stairs to his captain.

"But it'll be so cool!~" Luffy replied, letting his arm go as it stretched and stretched across the ocean and latched onto the young dragon.

"Nooooooo!" Zoro managed to grab onto the Luffy's torso in an attempted to keep him on board. Unfortunately, he forgot how much he hated sling-shotting as Luffy's arm recoiled and threw them off the ship and towards the dragon. Zoro screamed in horror and Luffy just laughed as they zoomed closer and closer to the beast at breakneck speed. They collided with the dragon, throwing it off its course and landing in a heap on its back as it righting itself with a pissed off squawk.

"Sorry, dragon!" Luffy smiled, making sure his hat was still on his head. "Would you join my crew?"

"No 'sorry' for me!?" Zoro snapped, baring his fangs and punching Luffy on the head.

"Ow! Why should I have to apologize?! You're the one who grabbed onto me!"

"I was trying to keep you on the Merry!"

"Well, I wanted to see the dragon and ask him to join our crew!"

"We're going to the Grand Line and he came to be at Lost Island! Besides, we can't keep him! Get your priorities straight! The dragon is not coming with us!"

"He is if he wants too!"

"We have no room for him!"

"We've got plenty!"

"No, we don't!"

"Yes, we do!"

"No, we don't, idiot!"

And the arguing continued on for another few minutes before the dragon got pissed at their noise and pulled a U-turn, heading back to their ship and doing a barrel roll to effectively dump the pair off of his back. There was a huge crash on the deck that brought the rest of the crew to see what was going on. What they did find was Zoro passed out on the upper deck where he'd been sleeping and Luffy konked out on the Merry's figure head where'd he'd been sitting, both of their necks at odd angles. Sanji, Usopp and Nami looked at each other, wondering what was up and then shrugged not interested enough to find out what they'd been doing. High above them, a Millennial Dragon snorted in irritation and flew away back to Lost Island.

A/N: Well, at least they have fun together! See you all later! :3


	8. Eye of the Beholder

A/N: ZareEraz here! Another update! Yay! Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Eye of the Beholder

"Goodbye!" Luffy yelled, waving at Laboon as the Merry sailed away towards Wisky Peak. The Island Whale roared back, saying goodbye to his new friends, the Jolly Roger hastily drawn on his head messy and splotchy. Crocus was smiling at the crew, even if they couldn't see him anymore, dwarfed by the huge whale whom he looked after. The Twin Cape Lighthouse shined its light, the rays barely visible in the sun, but they were there nonetheless, letting the Strawhats know that a peaceful shore was there waiting for them when they came back.

"I feel sorry for that whale." Usopp commented as Luffy continued to enthusiastically wave.

"What do you mean?" The rubber man asked, not even turning around to look at his crewmate until the whale and his caretaker disappeared from sight.

"Well…I…uh…" The sniper didn't know how to put it without hurting Luffy's feelings or starting a fight, so he floundered, trying to come up with a good lie. Fortunately or unfortunately, Zoro beat him to the punch.

"You know, you're drawing really sucked this time." Zoro snidely remarked.

"What did you say?!" Luffy growled.

"You should've seen what he tried to draw on our Jolly Roger." Nami scoffed. "It was worse than Laboon's. I'm surprised that the whale liked it, but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

"I don't think that Laboon could actually see Luffy's drawing." Usopp remarked, but he was ignored.

"Oh god. If you guys had a flag drawn by that idiot, I'd never have joined the crew." Sanji rolled his eyes, his cigarette smoke floating into the air.

"Good thing Usopp is handy with paints as well as equipment; otherwise we'd have a pretty pathetic mark." Nami shrugged.

"Thanks…I think." Usopp replied, the sniper wondering if she was complimenting him or not because it didn't sound like it.

"Hey! Stop making fun of me!" Luffy shouted.

"But it's so easy." Zoro shrugged. And that got Luffy mad enough to tackle him to the deck and start trying to beat the crap out of him, but Zoro was stubborn and mostly they just ended up rolling across the deck in a dust cloud trying to choke each other.

"Aw, isn't that cute?" Nami teased. "They get along so well." The navigator watched the two idiots try to strangle each other, wondering what Zoro found appealing in Luffy in the first place to follow him to the ends of the earth on a crazy adventure. Of course, she was there too doing the same thing…but Zoro's motivations seemed to be a little different from hers or Usopp's or Sanji's. It was intriguing and entertaining to say the least. _I guess Zoro's found a little beauty himself._ Nami was pulled out of her musings when Luffy managed to get on top of the swordsman and sat his butt right on his torso, halting the rolling.

"That wasn't very nice, Zoro!" Luffy snapped, finally pinning the man down and straddling his waist. Zoro glared at his captain, finding Luffy's face shoved up right into his - almost as if they were going to kiss –and his arms stuck to the deck in each of the boy's hands. The swordsman got kind of hot under the collar, having his close friend on top of him like this – not that Zoro would ever admit that out lout or even admit it to himself for that matter, but Luffy's butt was almost a little too low down – oh, god what was he thinking in a situation like this!? He had to get Luffy off him!

"L-Luffy! Get off me!" The green-haired man stuttered, blushing slightly and trying to throw the boy off him, but only succeeded in getting Luffy to cling to him tighter to keep his dominate position in the "fight."

"I'm not giving up that easily!" The rubber man shot back, wrestling his arms and legs around his first mate as they continued to roll around on deck.

"They get along _very well_." Nami said, an evil grin splitting her beautiful face.

"I don't even want to know!" Usopp threw his hands up in the air in denial.

"What is wrong with these guys?!" Mr. Nine and Ms. Wednesday screamed, wondering how the hell they got stuck on that crazy ship.

A/N: And there you go! See you all later!


	9. Ungrateful Little Ass

A/N: ZareEraz here! One more update! Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Ungrateful Little Ass

"Luffy…you were seriously scary." Zoro sighed, leaning against the rail of the Going Merry as Whisky Peak and Ms. All Sunday disappeared into the morning fog. He was still thinking about their fight, their undeniable desire to kill each other over such a little misunderstanding. It was ridiculous that Luffy hadn't listened to him about the bounty hunters and just attacked him, but he was stupid enough to stop trying, like it didn't matter anymore. Luffy had been furious with him and unforgiving, willing to kill Zoro for hurting people who had helped them, even if he didn't have all the information he'd needed. And it hurt, it hurt that Luffy hadn't believed him, but he hadn't tried harder to convince the rubber man that he was wrong. Instead, he'd let that hurt fester in his chest and gave into Luffy's anger, he'd _wanted_ to fight him, to see who was the strongest. It had been that simple at that point. Pushing all of his other emotions out except ambition, anger and desire, he'd let himself go.

"You were scary too, Zoro!" Luffy replied, sitting on the Merry's head. "Your eyes…they were as sharp as your blades." And Zoro knew that he was telling the truth. He'd felt it, the moment that they'd knocked Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine down for interrupting their fight, they had both glared at each other, their eyes piercing the night like two wolves on the verge of madness. It had felt…horrible. To turn on his friend and crewmate because of a misunderstanding, but Luffy had just been upholding his idea of friendship to people who had been hospitable to them. He'd thought that Zoro had betrayed their kindness with merciless violence. Sure, it hurt for Luffy not to believe him, but in hindsight, Zoro realized that Luffy had probably been hurting too, thinking that his friend had turned his back on kind people.

Zoro hoped it would be the only time they turned on each other. He never wanted to feel that way again…that pain and emptiness deep inside that couldn't be fixed by anyone. So, thank god for Nami's fists, otherwise that feeling would've stayed with him for the rest of his life.

"Don't do that again." Luffy continued. Zoro turned to look at his friend. "I don't want to fight you like that ever again. It wasn't good."

"That's an understatement." Zoro replied shortly, not wanting to drag up those horrible feelings again.

"And if you've got something to say, say it. Make me listen, so that I don't try to kill you again over something stupid."

"You wouldn't have listened to me. You were too pissed off." Zoro answered, shutting his eyes. "You called me an 'ungrateful little ass' and told me you were going to kick it. You didn't want to listen."

"No matter how unreasonable I am, make me listen." Luffy's voice dropped low. Zoro cracked his eyes open to see why it changed and found Luffy staring right at him, eyes full of something he couldn't name under his straw hat. "I will always trust you more than strangers. You were protecting us, all of us, while we were defenseless. That took strength. I respect that, more now than I ever have. So make me listen, even if it's hard, even if it'll hurt me, okay? I'll…try to listen…" Zoro's heart swelled, seeing captain trying to make amends for his mistake, at least a little bit.

"Right. I'll be sure to make your ungrateful little ass listen to me next time."

"I am not an ungrateful ass!" Luffy's serious mood snapped, sending him into a normal bout of arguing.

"Are too! You're the one that wouldn't believe me! You just admitted that I was protecting the crew and you turned around and stomped on that at Whisky Peak!"

"But I'm not an ass!" Luffy shouted.

"You were too!"

"Was not!"

"You're not listening to me again! You're an idiot!" Zoro snarled, as Luffy jumped him and pinched his ear and pulled it hard, his other hand trying to get his opposite cheek, but Zoro held off that hand with his own.

"Shut up! I'm the one talking here!"

"Would you two be quiet!?" Nami zoomed up to the high deck and punched them both in the skulls, incapacitating them both before they broke out into another fight.

"'Orry." Zoro and Luffy groaned, trying to avoid anymore of the navigator's wrath. Thankfully, they were smart enough to listen to her and just shut the hell up.

A/N: And there you go! See you next time!


	10. Worried Sick

A/N: ZareEraz here! Here's another update! Happy Reading! :3

Chapter 10: Worried Sick

"You're stupid, Zoro." Luffy grumbled, glaring at his first mate from his hammock, who was resting on the couch in the boy's room below decks. Mostly though, he was glaring at the bandages around both of Zoro's ankles and brooding over it. He'd actually been staring at them ever since Zoro had had to bandage up his own legs after Little Garden. And when Luffy had asked what the hell had happened, Zoro had told him that he'd tried to cut his legs off to get out of Mr. 3's Candle Service and ever since then, Luffy had put on a show for his crew, acting like his usual self until he'd made his way below decks and saw Zoro trying to fit himself onto the small couch, his bandages immediately drawing his attention, after which, he hopped into his hammock and grumped.

"You always call me stupid." The swordsman sighed, trying to get comfortable on the couch that was just a little too short for his tall frame.

"But this time I mean it. You're stupid." Luffy sulked, rolling over to turn his back to the green-haired man. Zoro cracked his eyes open and watched his captain, trying to figure out the weird mood he was in.

"Luffy…what's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing." The rubber man refused to explain if Zoro didn't already get it. He was so stupid sometimes!

"Luffy, don't be such an ass and just tell me what's-" Zoro started to stand up, placing his aching feet on the floor of the ship when a straw-hatted mass flew into him from the air and knocked him back onto the couch.

"Don't get up!" Luffy snapped, smacking his hands on Zoro's chest and pushing him down into the cushions and sitting his butt on Zoro's abs.

"What the-!"

"Stay down!" Luffy ordered, fisting his hands into the fabric of Zoro's shirt. "Just…don't get up." Luffy's voice broke and he stopped talking, tipping his head down.

"Luffy! What the hell is wrong?!" Zoro grumbled, trying to push his way back up. They were dead locked for a few minutes, Zoro's monster strength pinned down by Luffy's, until he stopped resisting, noticing that the rubber man's hands were trembling.

"Luffy…what's wrong?" Zoro asked again, softer this time.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" Luffy whispered, face hidden by his hat.

"Huh?" The swordsman breathed, watching the top of his captain's head.

"Why didn't you wait for me to come?!" Luffy's head snapped up, tears welling up in his eyes. "Why did you do something so stupid? You could've died of you'd actually succeeded in cutting your feet off! Why did you do it? Did you think that I had lost? That I wasn't coming? Did you think that I wouldn't come to help you?" A few tears slipped down Luffy's face as he spoke, his hurt and worry on the inside finally given physical form. Faced with the unexpected emotion, all Zoro could think to do was sit up and grab the boy, pulling him into his arms, Luffy's hat falling off in the process.

"No. I knew you'd come." He whispered back, holding the young man close to him.

"Then…" Luffy sniffed, trying to hold back his tears. "…why?"

"Because I wanted to beat the crap out of them first."

"By hurting yourself?" Luffy asked, timidly wrapping his arms around Zoro's body. "How would you have walked? How could you have lived after losing so much blood? Nami was right…you are insane." Luffy sniffed, trying to keep from crying any more than he already was. "And now she's sick and we have no doctor. She needs to get better and we're all worried about her and Vivi is the most, I think, but she's also worried about her home which makes everyone else worry. I can't have anybody doing any more stupid things."

"You're one to talk." Zoro interrupted, finally feeling the weight of everything that Luffy had been keeping hidden. He was worried about Nami, trying to keep a brave face on and be his usual goofy self to help everyone stay at least a little cheerful or irritated at him, to keep them distracted from despair as best he could. He was worried about Vivi and her home and the war because Vivi was a passenger on their ship and she was their friend. And he was worried about Zoro too, after his stunt. He was carrying so much on his shoulders, just like a captain should, but Zoro wanted himself to be one less that Luffy wouldn't have to worry about.

"What did you say?" Some of Luffy's irritation was coming back and he tried to pull himself from Zoro's arms, but the swordsman didn't let him go.

"You do the same stupid things that I do. Even if I told you to stop being impulsive you wouldn't. Same with me. When I comes down to it, I'm going to do what I have to do and you're going to do the same thing."

"Doesn't mean you should cut your own legs off! I was coming to get you guys! Did you really think that I had been defeated?! That's mean, Zoro!" Luffy started hitting Zoro's back with his fists.

"No! I didn't." Zoro's arms tightened around Luffy. "I just wanted to kick their asses and get over to you." Luffy stopped hitting Zoro, his hands falling limp. "I just…wanted to be with you." Zoro blushed, hoping that Luffy was too dense to notice any underlying double meanings.

"Okay…" Luffy sniffed. "I don't really get it…but I want you to be with me Zoro. I want to be with you and Nami and Sanji and Usopp and Vivi and Carue…you're my friends…I don't want you to die…so don't die…"

"I can't promise that." Zoro said, leaning back onto the couch to sleep like he'd been trying to do before Luffy got all grumpy, taking the boy with him. Luffy chuckled into his chest.

"I can't promise that either, I guess." Luffy rested his head on Zoro, suddenly tired and very comfy on the swordsman's chest. "Just don't die doing stupid things."

"Okay. Whatever you say, captain." Zoro let his eyes drift shut, in pain in his legs fading a little as Luffy's body relaxed on top of his. "Just rest for now. Worry later." But Luffy didn't hear him, he was already asleep, finding a new favorite spot to take a nap.

A/N: And there you go! We're slowly making our way along, so hang in there a bit! See you all later! :3


	11. Cold Comfort

A/N: ZareEraz here! I've got another update for you! Please read and let me know what you think! Enjoy! :3

Chapter 11: Cold Comfort

Snow fell from the sky, some of it still pink from Hiriluk's powder as Drum Island fell to the horizon behind the Going Merry. It was late, all the partying over with and the ship was quiet for the moment as Zoro stood watch outside. He huddled into himself, the cold atmosphere of the Winter Island trailing its grip across the sea even this far out. The swordsman shivered in stolen coat as he sat outside the kitchen, listening to the waves of the ocean and the snoring of his crewmates just inside the door. The almost stillness of the night clashed with the ringing in his head, the loud party and carousing into all hours of the night echoing in his ears as the moon rose higher in the sky. Usopp laughing and telling lies like he always did, Sanji throwing around insults and cooing over the girls, Nami and Chopper giggling at everyone, Vivi quietly laughing while Carue shivered and Luffy…well, Luffy's boisterous laughing was the echoing the most, comforting in the quiet. Zoro sneezed, the cold turning his nose even redder than it already was, and he grumbled to himself about drawing the short straw for watch duty. He really should be sleeping off his night of drinking, but Nami wouldn't allow it after being assigned to watch until morning. It was cruel really: he was out here standing in the cold while everyone else got to sleep in the warm cabin, all piled on each other haphazardly.

"Are you cold?" A voice asked. Well, almost everyone was sleeping, it seemed. Zoro looked around and found Luffy squatting next to him, still wearing Nami's torn coat that was missing the right sleeve.

"Duh, I'm cold." The swordsman replied, crossing his arms to try and hold in more heat. "Aren't you? You're wearing shorts and your coat's missing a sleeve." Luffy sat there for a minute, thinking about what Zoro had said and then threw his arms around himself, shivering.

"Cold…" Zoro rolled his eyes, remembering that Sanji had complained that Luffy had kept doing that on Drum Island when he'd forget that it was winter and that was the reason that Luffy had ended up with Nami's coat in the first place, since he'd lost his.

"You idiot." Zoro sighed, watching the boy shiver. But Luffy didn't go inside, he just kept squatting on the deck, a foot away and didn't say anything. So Zoro said something. "Why don't you go inside and sleep? It's warmer in there."

"I'm not sleepy. And you're out here all alone. And it's cold."

"That's why I'm saying that you should go inside." Zoro rolled his eyes.

"Then you come inside too." Luffy suggested, reaching out and pulling on the swordsman's sleeve.

"I'm on watch. I can't go inside until morning, that's what 'keeping watch' means."

"But you fall asleep on watch all the time, so what does it matter?" Luffy laughed quietly and then sneezed, the cold weather turning his exposed arm a little red. Zoro stared at his captain's bare skin and sighed, standing up and unbuttoning his own coat. "What are you doing?" Luffy asked.

"Come here. You'll freeze to death." Zoro grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled him into his chest, back to front and closed his coat around them both. What skin of Luffy's that wasn't covered sent shivers up the swordsman's body when touched, but it warmed up quickly near Zoro's own body heat.

"It's warm!" Luffy said loudly, laughing.

"Sh! Idiot." Zoro huffed quietly. "Don't wake everyone up."

"Oh, that's right!" Luffy said much more quietly.

"We're sitting." Zoro whispered as he leaned against the wall and slid down, Luffy following and plotting down in his lap, their legs parallel to each other, the coat completely hiding the boy's much shorter legs. The rubber man's head fit perfectly under Zoro's chin, but his hat was in the way, pressing against his throat uncomfortably. The green-haired man reached up and took the hat off (with a little protesting from Luffy) and tucked it in the triangle of space between his back and the wall. Luffy settled back into Zoro's chest, once he knew his hat was safe, the swordsman wouldn't let anything happen to it. Zoro tucked Luffy's head under his chin and watched the sea, wrapping his arms around his captain a little tighter. "Comfy?"

"Yeah!" Luffy whispered back excitedly. "You? Are you still cold?"

"No, I'm good now." Zoro blushed, feeling the boy relax completely into his arms, his head falling to the right heavily.

"Thanks, Zoro. Mmm…night." The rubber man sighed.

"I thought you said you weren't tired." Zoro sighed, smiling softly.

"I am now. Zoro's comfy…and warm…" And with that, Luffy fell asleep in Zoro's arms. The swordsman chuckled at his idiot captain and watched the snow fall for a little while. But pretty soon, Zoro was feeling sleepy too, and having his own little heater in his arms didn't help things. He fell asleep shortly before dawn, but Nami wasn't too mad at him for neglecting his duties when she woke up and saw him snoozing outside. And it had something to do with how happy her captain looked all bundled up in the idiot's coat with his arms around him. It was just too cute to mess up. So, instead of knocking the slacking watchman silly with her iron fists, the navigator gently prodded the rest of the crew awake to show them the couple and then they giggled about it quietly until breakfast was ready. Because once breakfast was ready, Luffy would wake up howling for food and everything would go back to normal, so they let the pair have their little moment of peace as the snow slowly faded from the sea.

A/N: And there you go! And I'm sorry to say that we've caught up to where HeartQueenVivaldi and I are in watching One Piece. I'll update as soon as I can when we finish story arcs so until then, I'll be seeing you all later! :3 Be sure to come back and visit!


	12. All We Can Do

A/N: ZareEraz here! We've finished Alabasta so here's your chapter! And yggdrasil001…you get exactly what you wanted: a longer chapter! I'm going to do compilations of important moments in each of the bigger arcs, that way we get to see more! Yay! Enjoy you guys! Don't forget to R and R! :3

Chapter 12: All We Can Do

Little Green-eyed Monster

In all honesty, Zoro hadn't been expecting this at all (and neither had anyone else for that matter). Ace, Portgas D. Ace was Luffy's brother. And right now, it was all Luffy could talk about right now. Ace this, Ace that, the time that Ace and I did this, that one day where Ace and I, blah, blah, blah. Sure, Ace was great: he was polite, more mature and better looking than his younger brother and he was incredibly powerful with his Flame Flame fruit powers, but Zoro still couldn't shake the prickly feeling that ran up his spine whenever Luffy talked to Ace or whenever they laughed at something they did as kids. It was frustrating being on the outside! It had never occurred to the swordsman that Luffy could have family, he probably did, but it wasn't something they really talked about as a crew unless some decided it was sharing time or if they met family like they had with Nami's sister, Nojiko. Which, Zoro concluded, had also just happened with Ace.

He put on a good face for the brother of his captain, but he didn't have to like it. They were stuck together, walking into the desert towards Yuba, where the Rebel Army was stationed and where Vivi hoped to end the conflict in Alabasta. As they trudged through the burning desert, without even knowing it, Zoro had gotten stuck at the back of the pack with Ace

"Hey? Something bugging you?" The older man asked.

"No, why?" Zoro said coolly.

"You seem a little distant from everyone right now and that doesn't seem to be how you normally act." Ace noted.

"And how would you know that? You've only been with us for a day." The swordsman questioned.

"Because my brother keeps trying to drag you into the conversation and you're not biting. That tells me that he talks with you a lot." Ace replied, tucking his arms behind his head. "It's bumming him out." Zoro didn't have a reply. Luffy might be looking as energetic and happy as he normally was, but the man had noticed that the rubber man had been glancing back at him everyone so often, his eyes confused at Zoro's behavior.

"You seem like a pretty cool guy, serious and you look really strong, so I'm going to ask you, and your crew by default to do something for me."

"Yeah, and what is that?" Zoro raised an eyebrow at the interloper.

"Take care of my brother, will ya?" Ace asked. "I know he can be a handful and silly and crazy at times, but he's rather fond of you all."

"Just be glad that we're all fond of him too." Zoro replied.

"Yeah, but you're a special kind of fond." Ace smiled, his grin almost the same as his brother's.

"What do you mean?" Zoro said, giving his voice and edge.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" Ace reached out and poked the swordsman in the shoulder teasingly.

"And what would I be jealous of?" Zoro asked, playing it cool.

"Probably of me, because that's a lot of what Luffy's focusing on right now. We haven't seen each other in over three years; of course he's going to be excited, but I seem to be butting into something, if you know what I mean."

"I'm sure I don't." Zoro denied.

"Right." Ace smiled knowingly. "I see the way he looks at you, Mr. Swordsman and I know what's good for my little brother. Just stick with him, 'kay?"

"It's really easy when he's dragging you all across the Grand Line." Zoro rolled his eyes. Ace laughed.

"I know!" But then Ace's eyes narrowed and he glared at Zoro hotly. "But if you hurt Luffy…I will personally scorch every inch of skin off of your hide until you're nothing but ash." Disliking being threatened, Zoro glared right back, getting right into Ace's face with his own.

"I don't plan to, but if you're looking for a fight, I'll give you on."

"Na, I just wanted to warn you!" Ace's mood pulled a one-eighty as he slung his arm around Zoro's shoulders and laughed heartily. The green-haired man had no clue what to make of Ace but he was clearly just as protective of Luffy as Zoro was turning out to be, which wasn't a bad thing. Ace wasn't a bad guy, in fact, he was like Zoro in lot of ways. Maybe that's why he took a disliking to him in the first place, because they were so similar to start with. But as they walked, Zoro thought about his words…he was letting Zoro take care of Luffy when he could, he was letting him stay by Luffy's side. He didn't want to but in, he just wanted to make sure that his little brother had good friends. _Well, Luffy picked us so we have to be good friends, don't we?_ Ace's logic was kinda screwy and he was a little weird, but everyone connected to Luffy seemed to be to some extent. And that didn't matter, as long as Zoro got to stay with Luffy.

"You're alright, Ace." Zoro nodded.

"You're pretty alright yourself." Ace smiled back.

"Hey, Zoro! Ace! Hurry up, will ya?" Luffy shouted at the stragglers, waving his arms wildly as he stood on top of the next sand dune.

"Sure, sure." Zoro called back, as he and Ace walked towards the group, a little more like friends than they had been a few minutes before.

"What took you guys so long?" Luffy pouted as the pair walked up to the rest of the group.

"We were just talking Luffy." The swordsman explained.

"All by yourselves?" Luffy said suspiciously.

"Yeah." Ace answered.

"Well, include me next time!" Luffy said jumping up and hugging each of their necks with each of his arms. The force of his tackle sent them all tumbling to the ground and then rolling down the sand dune they'd just climbed up.

"What was that for, you idiot!?" Zoro spat out sand as he snapped at the boy.

"You make me jealous when you're all alone! Shi shi shi!" Luffy grinned, holding both of his favorite people.

"You're not the only one who's jealous." Ace chuckled. Zoro blushed lightly at the comment and then hoped the shadow of his turban hid it or that the boy would just pass it off as sunburn.

"I'm not?" Luffy looked at his brother, a confused look on his face.

"Oh, forget it, Luffy." Ace smiled. "Now get off me, you're heavy." The flame man poked his brother in the face and pushed him off.

"I am not! Zoro carries me all the time!" Luffy retorted.

"Oh, he does, does he?" Ace gave Zoro a knowing look.

"Shut up and let's get going." Zoro cut him off before he could say anything else. "The others are waiting for us."

"Whatever you say." Luffy and Ace replied, following after the man.

"And I do not carry you!" Zoro said, answering Ace's question while talking to Luffy. "You jump on me."

"Like this?" And then Luffy jumped on Zoro's back like the monkey he was and made the swordsman lose his balance, sending them tumbling down the sand dune again. Ace laughed as Zoro yelled at Luffy for being an idiot and smiled affectionately at them.

"He better not break his heart either," The pirate whispered, only wanting Luffy to be happy with whatever he did. It made him kind of jealous, seeing how much his first mate meant to him, but Luffy had found another good family to belong to, and that's all that mattered to him. He could leave his kid brother in their hands and not have to worry any more that he already did. As long as Luffy was safe, that's all he needed to do. Ace smiled a little wider, waiting for the pair to catch up to him.

Left Behind

Vivi was screaming. She was being dragged off the giant crab by a golden hook, whisked away by and unseen force as the sun turned the sky blood red in the west. The whole crew was on edge, their faces frozen in shock as their friend was kidnapped right before their eyes. Zoro was the only one who reacted quickly enough, shouting at their doctor.

"Chopper! Stop the crab!" He yelled. The little reindeer did as he was told and the sand crab skid to a halt, a cloud of dust floating into the air. Everyone nearly lost their balance, especially Luffy who was still standing up, but he didn't care. Luffy had other things to worry about besides balance.

"It's _HIM_!" Luffy snarled, his pupils narrowing, his face turning murderous. Before anyone else could do anything, Luffy was stretching his arms, grabbing onto the golden, floating hook and zinging to Vivi before Zoro could say anything. He grabbed the girl and freed her, throwing her back towards the crab as the hook pulled him further and further away from his crew. Zoro felt his heart leap into his throat, as he stood up and caught the falling Vivi, knowing exactly who it was that Luffy was going after.

"Hey! Luffy!" Zoro called, setting the princess down on top of the crab and watching, nearly helpless as Luffy and his straw hat shrunk in the distance.

"That damn idiot!" Sanji yelled, getting to his as well, ready to dash into battle as Zoro was about to.

"Luffy, no!" Vivi screamed, her eyes wide with horror as Luffy took her place in Crocodile's clutches.

"You guys go on ahead! Don't worry about me!" Luffy yelled back, his arm being dragged forward by the golden hook of Crocodile's left arm, said hook that dropped him upside down in the sand when the person attacked to it realized that he'd failed in capturing the person he'd been aiming for. Luffy looked ridiculous, upside down, his arms and legs sticking out in front of him at the same angles, but he had a confident smiled on his have and his hands were fists of determination. "Make sure you deliver Vivi home! Safe and sound! You've got to promise me!"

Luffy could almost see all of their faces: Zoro's was smiling at his stupidity, but still mortified at what he was doing, Sanji's jaw was clenched his eyes wide in horror, Ussop's was pale with fear, Chopper's was outright worried and Nami's and Vivi's were identical masks of fear.

"Good luck, you guys." Luffy yelled one more time, making sure that his crew knew what they needed to do, just like he knew what he needed to do what he could do.

"Idiot…" Zoro hissed. He snapped around and yelled at the driver. "Hey! Let's go, Chopper! Keep going straight to Alubarna!"The reindeer swallowed noticeably and nodded, flicking the reins and getting the crab moving again.

"Alright. Okay!" Chopper's eyes were shiny with tears, but he tried to put on a brave face anyway. "Let's go, crab!" The crab started running again, distancing them from their captain faster than any of them wanted it to.

"H-hey! Hold on!" Ussop stammered, "Hey! That's cold, Zoro! Stop the crab! You're not going to leave him behind, are you?! I can't believe that you'd do something like this! Well, if Luffy's gone, you'd better protect me, damn it!"

"We've got to go back!" Vivi shouted, getting ready to jump off the crab and go after him.

"It's alright, Vivi! He'll be fine! You have to trust me on this, okay?" Nami shouted, wrapping her arm about the princess to keep her on the crab. "I feel sorry for the other guy. Luffy shows no mercy to his prey. There's not a single person he's gone after who was able to walk away."

"Crocodile will fail, Luffy will win. It's that simple." Zoro said, agreeing with Nami. "The moment that the Rebel Army started running, this land's final hour was set. The moment the Royal Army and the Rebel Army meet, this country, the Kingdom of Alabasta, will be gone forever. You truly are the one and only hope to preventing that tragedy. You must survive, no matter what." Zoro's voice dropped. Vivi looked at her friends, their eyes steady, but filled with worry and determination. They all knew what was at stake, that's why they were leaving their captain behind. "So from this moment forward, what happens to Luffy or any of us for that matter, isn't the least bit important!" Zoro continued.

"But…" Vivi breathed.

"Vivi," Sanji started, puffing out a cloud of smoke from his cigarette. "This is a fight that you and you alone started…you're the one who bravely left this land years ago, when you chose to stand up against a corrupt and evil organization. However," Sanji started to walk away, taking a seat on the center of the sand crab, "don't make the mistake of thinking that you're alone anymore."

"B-b-b-because t-the great Captian Ussop is going to protect you!" Ussop declared his knees shaking more than the crab. Vivi ignored him and stood up, finding Luffy still upside down in the sand.

"LUUUFFFFYYYY!" Vivi shouted.

"Hm?" The rubber man replied, knowing that she couldn't hear him.

"We'll be waiting for you!"She yelled as loud as she could. "We'll be in Alubarna!"

"YEEEAAAAHHHHH!" He shouted back, making sure that she heard him.

Luffy watched as his crew disappeared from sight, believing that they were going to save Vivi's home. He'd be right behind them once he'd finished of Crocodile. That bastard had done so much to Vivi and her home and he was going to smack some pain into that sandy ass of his! Luffy jumped to his feet, raring to go, his prey right in front of him.

Far away now, Zoro was watching him disappear too, along with the rest of the crew. As much as he'd like to jump off the crab and beat the shit out of Crocodile, this was Luffy's fight. And Luffy would win. He had to believe that.

 _Make sure you deliver Vivi home! Safe and sound!_ With those words echoing in his ears, Zoro sat down on the crab and folded his arms, resolute in obeying his orders, but worried nonetheless, just like the rest of the crew as their captain was left behind. _You're better not lose…or I'm going to kick your ass._

Just That Simple

The days following Crocodile's defeat and the salvation of Alabasta were quite ones for the Strawhat Pirates, mostly filled with sleeping, eating and watching over Luffy, since he was the only one that hadn't woken up yet. Besides Chopper, Vivi had placed it upon herself to help take care of the injured captain, her gratitude for what he and his crew did almost impossible to pay back. So, as thanks, she made all of her friends comfortable in the palace, letting them share one of the huge rooms so they could rest, and keeping an eye on their sleeping captain as they recovered from their battles. Out of all of them, Zoro was the one who was missing the most, but that's because he was out training (despite Chopper's best efforts to keep him inside and resting after his fight with Mr. 1), trying to become stronger as the Grand Line got more dangerous. But even though he was gone quite a bit, Vivi would always find him back in the room with Luffy, napping or cleaning and maintaining his swords while Nami scoured the library and Sanji went shopping with the others. Vivi didn't get out much because she was tired too, but it was nice knowing that even with everyone spread out, someone would be with Luffy, whether it was her, Chopper, Zoro or any of the other crewmembers. And it was on one such occasion when Vivi had left to replace the cold bowl of water for the rags she'd been using to bring Luffy's fever down that she found herself alone with the swordsman.

Vivi walked into the shared room that she and the Strawhats were crashing in, carrying a new bowl filled with cool water and a towel for Luffy's head. He still hadn't woken up, but it wouldn't be long now, she supposed. Luffy had been asleep for two straight days and he'd snored every minute of it. Vivi shut the door quietly behind her and looked at Luffy's bed, seeing the boy sprawled out all over the blankets, Zoro sleeping by his side, swords resting on his shoulders like they usually did when the green-haired man slept. Vivi smiled, happy that someone came to keep Luffy company while she talked to her father and visited with the palace staff after two years away. Zoro always seemed to be by Luffy whenever he got the chance, in between training, sleeping and risking his life, his loyalty sometimes seeming more like devotion than anything else. Or affection. Vivi and the rest of the crew had giggled about it behind their hands all the way through the first part of the Grand Line, laughing at their antics and spying on them to see if Zoro would make a move. Luffy seemed oblivious, but he didn't seem to mind either that the swordsman was always around him. He might even have an inkling himself of Zoro's feelings.

But that was for them to figure out. Vivi was just here to keep an eye on her friends while they rested, it was what she could do for them. The princess tip toed over to Luffy's bed, grabbing a spare chair since Zoro was sleeping in the one she usually occupied and sat down, wringing out a new cool cloth and reaching to place it on the rubber man's head. Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed her wrists, and iron grip imoblizing her. Her head snapped over to the person holding her and found that Zoro was yawning, waking up from his nap. He blinked at the princess blearily and noticed that it was her who was reaching for Luffy.

"Oh, it's you. Sorry." He apologized, letting go of her arm. Zoro had surprised Vivi, his quick reflexes razor sharp even in sleep. She softly placed the cloth on Luffy's head, her mind spinning as Zoro yawned again. _He didn't even know who it was next to him and yet, he still reacted quickly enough to protect Luffy if it was an enemy…how does someone do that? Especially when asleep! It's almost unconscious, like his desire to protect his captain never turns off, even while resting._

"You're fine, Mr. Bushido." Vivi smiled sweetly, hiding her amazement behind a princessy face.

"You can call me Zoro. We are friends." The swordsman yawned for a third time, settling back down into his seat.

"Oh, right. Zoro." Vivi amended.

"Is everyone else gone?" The man asked, looking around to find the room void of any of the rest of his crew.

"Yeah. Nami's looking over my father's books and I think Sanji and Ussop went out shopping. Tony's taking a well deserved rest."

"He hasn't woken up yet?" Zoro pointed at Luffy, his neutral gaze doing a once over on his captian. _Always protective._

"No. He hasn't." Vivi replied, sitting back in her chair after pulling Luffy's blankets over his body again. They spent a few moments in silence, the swordsman listening to the sounds of Alubarna rebuilding itself outside, the citizens shouting and hammering away as they fixed their houses. After seeing what Zoro was doing for Luffy, Vivi had a burning question that lingering on the tip of her tongue, and she debated whether or not to ask it. Zoro was a relatively calm person when he wasn't being scary or pissed off, he probably wouldn't mind and if he didn't want to answer, she'd be okay with that.

"You really care for Luffy, don't you Zoro?" Vivi asked, after watching the swordsman keep watch over his captain while he was sleeping.

"What makes you say that?" Zoro asked, looking like Vivi's question hadn't effected him at all.

"Well, you were really worried about him when we left him in Rain Base, you're the one who's always getting mad at him first when he does something stupid and you're by his side whenever you can be." And then Vivi giggled. "And we all saw you cuddling on the ship when we left Drum Island." Zoro's spine snapped straight at that confession, a blush dusting his cheeks as he realized that the whole crew probably saw them.

"You did…?" He asked in shock.

"Yes." Vivi smiled. "And Luffy looked quite content in your lap." She giggled again as Zoro's blush deepened. And then she stopped teasing him, getting serious. "You should tell him. I'm sure Luffy knows at least a little of what you're feeling."

"That dumbass probably hasn't noticed at all. He's so dense, but that's just the way he is." Zoro sighed, leaning back into his chair. "And that's fine. He doesn't have to know."

"But wouldn't that be sad for you? You want him to know, don't you?"

"He'll figure it out eventually. And if he doesn't, that means he doesn't share the same feelings I do." Zoro replied. "We're on a quest to be the best pirate crew out there and Luffy's going to be King of the Pirates, if he doesn't have time for things like love, then so be it."

"You'd be willing to give love up for him?" Vivi asked, tears pricking her eyes as she thought of Zoro never getting the chance to say what he felt.

"At this point, Vivi…I'd probably give up anything for him, whether he knows how I feel or not. It's just that simple." The princes couldn't believe how strong he was being, but it really should've have surprised her. The whole crew was like that in their own ways. She was willing to risk death to save her country, and they were willing to risk their own lives for that same reason. They were friends, Luffy had drummed that into her head enough times to make it stick; it was just that simple. Zoro was willing to risk his life for Luffy, he was also willing to risk not being loved for the same reasons. It may be sad, but it made sense. In the Strawhat crew, friend's lives were more important than your own and that's all they needed to go on.

"You and Luffy are a lot alike." Vivi smiled.

"We are? I don't see it." Zoro yawned again, feeling sleepy and letting his eyes drift shut.

"You may not, but it's still there." Vivi replied, but Zoro was already napping again, snoring next to his captain. Vivi chuckled softly at the two men with their mouths open while they slept. "It's nothing big…just something simple." She finished, decided that a nap was a good idea as well before she laid her head down next to Luffy's leg, folding her arms under her cheek, content to sleep under the watch of the swordsman.

Outed with the Bath Water

"This is the palace's Royal Bath." King Cobra announced, leading the men into the biggest bath they had ever seen. "We usually only use it during the rainy season."

"WHOOAAAAA!" Luffy shouted.

"I'm royally impressed! It's gorgeous!" Ussop yelled. "I'm going in first!"

"No way! I am!" Luffy challenged. He and Ussop instantly ran into the steamy bath area and slipped, falling on their backs and sliding into the side of the bath proper.

"Real mature guys." Sanji sighed, sweat dropping at the sight of his captain acting like his usual idiot self.

"Zoro, will you help me wash my back?" Chopper asked, tugging on the swordsman's hand.

"Sure." _Though I'd rather be washing someone else's back…_ Zoro concentrated on cleaning the rain deer, trying to keep his mind off of a naked Luffy just a few feet from him, running around and slipping and shouting with Ussop as they careened across the Royal Baths.

"Well, that was some dinner tonight, wasn't it?" King Cobra said, sitting down and arranging his bath towel to cover himself in a dignified manner, starting up a conversation of Ussop and Luffy splashing around. "I thought that and after-dinner bath would be a more sedate affair, but it seems anything you lads get involved in quickly becomes a party."

"Hey! Zoro! Look over here! Look at what we're doing!" Luffy called, pulling the swordsman's attention from Chopper's back over to the waterfall coming out of the gold lion's mouth.

"We're training!" Ussop said in a serious voice, both boys standing underneath the water with their fists pushed together in front of their chests.

"Very funny." Zoro snarked, displeased with their poor imitation of waterfall meditating.

"Hey! Zoro! Take a bath with me!" Luffy called, running up to the green-haired man. But, he slipped and slid right into Zoro, knocking them both down and sent they careening across the bathroom floor until Zoro smacked into the side of the huge tub. Chopper's back was left un-rinsed until he got suds in his eyes and did it himself.

"Ow! Luffy!" Zoro complained as pain spread across his abused back and spine. Said Luffy ended up rolling into the man's lap once they'd come to a stop, giggling and wearing a shit-eating grin as Zoro glared at him. And then Zoro felt another pain, one a bit more intimate this time.

"Luffy! Watch where you're sitting!" Zoro winced as the boy sat right on his groin.

"Oh, those your jewels?" He said nonchalantly, pointing down in between their legs.

"YES! Now get off them!" Zoro demanded, baring his fangs.

"Nah." Luffy sighed, turning his body and wrapping his legs around Zoro's waist. The pressure and discomfort lessened as Luffy's butt shifted onto his thighs rather than his groin. "It's comfy here, and I can wash your hair!" The rubber man smiled and Zoro blushed, the boy's unembarrassed personality a little troublesome at times.

"No doing any funny business over there you two!" Sanji shouted, giving the pair the evil eye despite the amused smile on his face.

"Ew! Gross!" Chopper and Ussop chanted, making faces at them, neither of them having much of a clue as to what Sanji was talking about. (And in all honesty, Luffy didn't know what either.)

"Way to ruin the moment!" Zoro growled, glaring at the trio until Ussop and Chopper were quaking in their towels before they giggled and ran off to throw soap bubbles at each other.

"Um, hey…" Sanji said smiling, turning to Igaram and elbowing him in the naked chest lightly, "Where's the women's bath?" The Royal Guard captain smacked his arm away furiously and glared at the blonde man.

"You're nuts! And why would I tell you that?!" The curly-haired man shouted. "That's where the princess is!"

"I knooowww!~" Sanji smacked him on the back several times. Their argument was interrupted by King Cobra, pin towel and all, standing near a wall that didn't extend all the way to the ceiling and pointing dramatically.

"It's right behind that wall!" He declared, sounding very king-like.

"YOUR MAJESTY!" Igaram balked.

"Hey! Thanks old guy! You're the best!" Ussop shouted, running up to the wall with Sanji and the rest of the crew, and Eyelash and King Cobra and Igaram of all people, following close behind. They hiked it up the wall and leaned over, each man zooming in on the two women talking below them. All they could see in the steam was their backs, but Nami quickly noticed that they had an audience. But until that moment, Zoro was mostly concerned with looking at Luffy's butt and they leaned over the wall, peeking behind him once or twice. The only reason he fell over when Nami opened her towel and let them have a peek for one hundred thousand berries a piece was because Ussop's arm smacked him in the face while he was looking at Luffy's butt.

Zoro was the first one up, rubbing his face and decided that now would be a good time to get into the bath. Everyone else sat up and grabbed their towels and started to calm down as well. Only King Cobra was still on the floor, his nose bleeding from the sight of the beautiful Nami.

"Thank you." He said.

"Pervert." Everyone else stated.

"Not for that!" He shouted, jumping to his feet. He then sat down and bowed to the Strawhat crew, despite his status of king and thanked them for helping him restore peace to his country and for bringing back his daughter. Luffy smiled, laughing as the king smiled back at him. With the only serious moment over, the people in the bath returned to their usual rambunctious selves.

"Hey, Zoro!" Luffy called, sliding across the bathroom to tumble into a heap next to his friend.

"What is it this time?" Zoro grumbled, getting tired of being interrupted while he was trying to soak his sore body in the warm water.

"Will you wash my back? Pleeeeaaaase!" Luffy gave Zoro the biggest eyes he could. _What am I?_ Zoro thought to himself, _designated back scrubber?_

"Fine." The man relented and was about to called for Ussop to grab a soap and brush for him so he wouldn't have to leave the bath, when he felt a pair of lips crash into his softly (for Luffy anyway). By the time he realized that it was Luffy's lips the boy had already pulled away and was wearing his shit-eating grin again.

"Thanks Zoro!"

"Oooooooo!" Ussop called, laughing boisterously at the swordsman's face as it lit up like a Christmas tree. Zoro was speechless. Luffy…Luffy…and just kissed him!

"Hey. Hey, Zoro. Earth to Zoro. Are you in there?" Luffy asked, knocking on the man's forehead. It made a hollow sound. "No one's home."

"I think you broke him." Sanji remarked, as Zoro sank under the water, his head brain dead for all intents and purposes. "The mighty Moss-head!" He announced, throwing his arms into the air and then pointed at the swordsman. "Defeated by a kiss!"

"Haha! He's funny!" Luffy chortled. "But that's why I like him!"

"Hehehe, I knew it!" Ussop shouted, striking a manly pose.

"Knew what?" Chopper asked, confused as to what Luffy had done. Humans were strange creatures and he didn't quite get what putting your mouth on another person's mouth meant. Ussop leaned down and whispered in the reindeer's ear dramatically.

"I knew they liked each other! They're in loooooveee!" He sang.

"REALLY?!" Chopper's eyes lit up and widened. "So what was that mouth thing?!"

"A kiss, my dear Chopper." Ussop explained in a know-it all voice. "A kiss is something you give to someone when you like them or love them. It's a sign of affection sometimes used by close friends in greetings as well as when people love each other, and as a sign of a bond between parent and child."

"Really, Ussop! You're so smart!" Chopper squealed.

"But not everyone wants to go around kissing each other so it's really up to whether or not the other person wants to be kissed."

"Have you kissed someone, Ussop?!" Chopper asked, enthralled with their discussion. Ussop blushed when the reindeer cornered him. He hadn't kissed anyone but he wasn't going to let the kid know that.

"Why yes I have!" He declared. "The great Captain Ussop has kissed thousands of people and beautiful ladies!"

"Oh, so you can kiss girls too? Is that was Sanji tries to do with Nami and Vivi?" Chopper asked, giving the cook and evil eye. "Because when he tries to do it it doesn't seem very pure."

"Hey! My love for Nami and Vivi is pure!" Sanji retorted.

"As if." Both Chopper and Ussop smacked their hands to the side, not believing a word he said.

"Hey!"

"Do you want a kiss, Chopper?" Luffy asked, sling-shotting himself over to the reindeer. He'd lost interest in Zoro for the moment when he turned into a statue over his kiss. Luffy would come back to him later when he resurfaced.

"Yeah! I want a kiss too!" Chopper nodded, wanting to see what kissing was like. Luffy made embarrassing smooch noises that made the reindeer giggle and then planted a quick peck on the kid's fuzzy cheek. And that's when Chopper noticed that he hadn't been kissed in the same spot as Zoro, giving Luffy big disappointed eyes.

"Hey! Why did Zoro get one on the mouth and I didn't?" Chopper asked, touching his cheek were Luffy had kissed it.

"Because, only Zoro gets those ones from me!" Luffy nodded. "But…if you want one…" The rubber-man grabbed the reindeer and held him close even as he struggled to get away. Luffy stretched his lips huge, huge enough to scare the shit out of the Chopper and started to descend on his face. The doctor screamed and ran away, pulling Luffy's stretchy arms with him until Luffy let him go, sending both him and Chopper flying in opposite directions as his arms recoiled.

"Luffy, calm down a go save your drowning boyfriend." Sanji ordered, grabbing onto the boy's shoulder and tossing him into the bath with Zoro. The shock of having a body dropped on him woke the swordsman up and he burst out of the water hacking and sputtering from lack of air.

"Heeeeeey, lover boy's awake!" Ussop sang. Zoro remembered where he was an shyly looked at Luffy who was draped all over him.

"Shut up guys! You're making him blush!" Sanji teased

"Hey, Zoro." Luffy called, getting the man to look down at him. The rubber man smiled.

"W-what?" Zoro finally found his tongue.

"They're cool with it." His grin got bigger.

"Oooooooo!" Sanji, Ussop and Chopper sang again like immature school boys.

"WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE?!" Nami howled, wondering why her relaxing bath time was being interrupted… _again_.

"Luffy kissed Zoro!" Came the sing-song reply from the rest of the crew.

"And Zoro's being a dork!" Sanji added.

"I am not a dork!" Zoro retorted angrily, even as he wrapped his arms around Luffy.

"Well, it's about time!" Nami shot over the wall. "I've been waiting for that to happen since we got the Going Merry!" She heard Zoro balk, followed by a splash as Zoro realized that Nami had known the whole time how he felt about Luffy.

"Is he dead?" Ussop asked.

"I hope so." Sanji replied.

"Let's see!" Luffy added. Giggles burst out from the other side of the wall.

"Luffy kissed Zoro again!" Chopper shouted gleefully.

"L-luffy!" Zoro stuttered.

"Teehee. You know you love me!" The rubber man chuckled.

"You have no idea." Zoro whispered softly so no one would hear him. Unfortunately, Ussop and Chopper were mere inches away from then when he said, and so they heard.

"Ooooooo!"

"Shut up!" Both sides of the Royal Baths burst into laughter as Zoro pounded on his two obnoxious crewmates, and Vivi just smiled to herself, happy that everything had worked out for the better. After all, what else could she do but be happy for them? They deserved it.

A/N: And there you go! See you all next time! :3


	13. To Drown One's Troubles

Chapter 13: To Drown One's Troubles

Luffy could be smart in his own way….sometimes, especially during fights like the one with Crocodile where he used water to keep the bastard from turning into sand. But in Zoro's opinion, he could do some pretty stupid things too. Drowning, for example. Luffy was the captain of a pirate ship sailing across the seas, and he couldn't swim. It didn't make much sense but Luffy made the best of it…especially when he had other people to save his sorry ass when he fell into the ocean.

This was one of those times.

Zenny the Moneylender had just gotten his ship (and his goats) out to sea and that damn Marie sergeant was making trouble for everyone, including the Going Merry and her crew. So Luffy decided to do something about it and his solution was to ram Zenny's ship into the Marine ship and sent them both flying across the bay of the island. Only, he'd neglected to take into account the old timer's weak heart, at which everyone called him a moron. And Luffy being Luffy, went to help the old guy by stretching his arms all the way across the cove and grabbing onto the Marine ship and sling-shotting across without another word to Zoro, who was still standing on the beach with him. It was also at that time that the Marine sergeant who had it in for them cuts the ropes that Luffy was holding onto, sending the rubber man crashing into the hull of the ship and sinking into the sea. And that's when Zoro realized that his new boyfriend was drowning.

"Ah, Luffy!" The swordsman growled, irritated that that idiot had gotten himself into trouble again without thinking. Zoro ran down the beach and sloshed through a few feet of water before jumping in head first and swimming out to save his captain from certain death.

After a few minutes of swimming Zoro stopped to take a look around and see how close he was. The ships should be right in front of him…only they weren't. In fact, when Zoro turned around he found that he'd almost swam out to sea and both ships were behind him and even further away than they were to start with.

"Where is that idiot!?" He shouted, trying to figure out how the ships got lost in that tiny cove.

"You're made for each other!" Nami yelled from the deck of the Merry as it travelled towards Zenny's ship, rolling her eyes at both idiots.

And after several more minutes of frantic swimming, and searching around at the bottom of the sea, Zoro managed to snag Luffy's drowning ass and hoisted him up above the water.

"You idiot. See if I ever save your sorry ass again." Zoro rolled his eyes, holding Luffy up by the collar as the boy spit out all the sea water he'd swallowed whilst drowning.

"I almost died…" Luffy gagged, vomiting up seawater. "Don't let me go…" The rubber man clung to the swordsman's shirt.

"Why would I let you go? I just dragged your ass out of the ocean!" Zoro huffed, winding one arm around the boy's waist, and holding him close despite his ticked off expression.

"Thanks, Zoro!" Luffy smiled, his face still pale as death.

"And now we have to drag both your asses out of the ocean." Sanji sighed as the Merry pulled up alongside the pair, throwing down the rope ladder. Zoro hauled Luffy over his shoulder and climbed up, immediately following the rest of the crew over to Zenny's ship. Once there, he grabbed the rubber man by the wrists and ankles and twisted him until he was wrung out, and then shook him out like a rub before dropping him on deck.

"Was that really necessary?" Luffy huffed, still out of breath from his scrape with death.

"Totally." The entire crew replied (and some goats too).

"Sometimes, you're a lot of trouble." Zoro sighed, sitting down and peeling off his own shirt to wring it out.

"All you have to do to drown your troubles is to toss him back in the ocean." Nami stated, hooking her thumb back over her shoulder towards the sea.

"But you wouldn't do that, Zoro!" Luffy said, suddenly worried. "You like me don't you!?"

"Yes, I like you." Zoro smiled, happy that Luffy was at least a little worried about his own welfare and relationships.

"And all Luffy would have to do to get rid of you is to point in the wrong direction!" Ussop teased, giggling.

"Hey!" Zoro snapped, but the whole crew had dissolved into giggles (except Chopper who was busy checking on Zenny's heart condition), the idea of drowning their idiot captain quickly forgotten.


	14. Rude Awakening

A/N: ZareEraz here! HQV and I aren't quite done with the Rainbow Mist arc, but I found a good scene to write about anyway. I take artistic license with this scene because I had to change when Zoro woke up to make it work so don't kill me for rewriting the script a little. Other than that, enjoy! :3

Chapter 14: Rude Awakening

"ONWARD! FULL SPEED AHEAD!" Luffy shouted from his perch on the Merry's head. Ussop just crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at his captain. He looked behind him and rolled his eyes at the sleeping Zoro, wondering how the swordsman could sleep through then going into the Rainbow Mist, encountering that loud bunch of kids that the old scientist guy Henzo from Luluka new and then all of Luffy's yelling on top of everything else. It was downright amazing what a heavy sleeper he could be!

"About that…are you certain we're moving forward, Luffy?" Ussop asked, knees trembling.

"Yeah! I said full speed straight ahead!" Luffy answered, like there wasn't a care in the world when they were trapped in this creepy ship graveyard probably filled with real ghosts and not just kids pretending to be ghosts.

"Where exactly is it that you're trying to take us?" Henzo asked, walking up onto the forward deck with Robin in low.

"Weeeellll…" Luffy started, dragging out his first word. "We're heading out of the mist, duh!"

"Don't be ridiculous." Henzo replied, looking around at the wrecked ships suspiciously. "Once you enter Abe's Concert there's no leaving it. This region of the sea is not like any other you've seen before." Just hearing him speak was making Ussop's knees quake even more, but Luffy did get it. What was the big deal? If they sail long enough going straight, they'd pop out of the mist in no time!

Ussop ran over to the port side of the ship and looked down after noticing something strange and scary. The Merry was passing another cluster of wrecked ships and on the figure head of one of them, a white statue of a lady stood out to the sniper. They'd passed that ship already!

"Ummm….I'm pretty sure we passed that ship just a little while ago!" Ussop stammered, slapping his hands on the rail. Okay, this was getting even freakier now!

"Ah, don't worry." Luffy replied. "There's a bunch of ships that all look alike no matter where you go!"

" I don't think so." Robin interrupted, walking up to Ussop. "That exact same ship was wrecked in the very first place we dropped anchor." The archeologist placed her hand on her hip. "I remember seeing that statue of the goddess on the bow."

"But what does that mean?! Does that mean we've come full circle back to where we started from!?" Ussop started freaking out.

"What's the big deal?" Luffy asked.

"That's why I asked if you were sure we were going forward earlier!?" The sniper shrieked.

"I was watching! We were going straight!" Luffy declared, still unfazed by everything.

"How can you possibly see where straight is in all this mist!?" Ussop yelped again, asking questions to try and get Luffy to see that they were in big trouble.

"He can't." Robin replied sternly. She then crossed her arms in front of her body and closed her eyes, pulling her arms to either side of her and chanting, " _Seis Fleurs_!" Flower petals appeared around Robin's body and fluttered off. No one could see where her arms or legs were, but their heard the cannon at the bow shift and then fire, sending a cannonball flying off into the mist. Luffy laughed, knowing that Robin was the one who shot the cannon (no one else could've really) and stuck his right hand into a salute on his forehead to watch it scream into the distance…and then that whooshing scream was behind him for some reason as the cannonball crashed into the ocean right behind then, sending the Merry reeling on the waves. The impact when a wall of water up into the air, soaking Ussop and a still sleeping Zoro. He didn't even wake up.

"What was the point of that?" Luffy asked, curious.

"She shot the cannon forward but it landed right behind us!" Ussop explained, his suspicions (and Robin's) confirmed.

"As I thought." Robin nodded.

"The fabric of space is distorted here."

"What does that mean?" Luffy asked again, getting a great idea.

"It's something that I remember reading from that Rainbow Mist book earlier." Robin started explaining. "See, the inside of the Rainbow Mist is twisted around itself like a maze-" And then Luffy put his great idea into action, grabbing onto the Merry's horns and stretching his arms as he jumped backwards. The rubber man hooked his leg's around the ship's main mast and smiled hugely, giggling.

"Hold on! No, Luffy!" Ussop shouting, knowing exactly what the boy was up to.

" _Gum-Guuuummmm….Rocket!"_ Luffy shot up ahead of the ship, disappearing into the mist all by himself.

"Too late." Ussop stammered. Robin caught Luffy's hat drifting down through the air when it fell of his head and then folded her arms, keeping the captain's treasured object safe until he came back. If he came back.

"He won't necessarily end up back in the same location that he started in." Henzo stated, like it was no big deal.

"Luffy! You moron!" Ussop shouted, scared for his friend. What if he fell into the ocean and drowned because they couldn't find him?! Zoro would kill them all if Luffy died while he was sleeping and they did nothing about it! And Ussop did not want to be on the wrong end of those swords, especially when Zoro was so protective of Luffy in the first place! But Ussop needn't have worried to much about it in the first place because a few seconds later, Luffy came crashing back onto the Merry, hitting her mainsail with a _thump_ , snapping one of the ropes holding the sail down with his force. That sent him careening down onto the ship, his course shifted by the sail and right into the head of a sleeping Zoro, sending them both tumbling across the forward deck in an unceremonious heap.

"Okay! I get it now! It's a mystery mist!" Luffy declared, sitting up from his spot on a rudely awakened moss head, his face all red from the impact. "No matter which way you go you end up where you started."

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Zoro shouted, throwing Luffy's butt off of him and holding his aching head.

"Hi, Zoro! You awake now?" Luffy asked, rolling across the deck from the shove and laughing.

"No thanks to you!" The swordsman hiss, a murderous look in his eyes for being disturbed from a good dream. It was about Luffy, but now that he was faced with the real one all it did was tick him off. "What were you doing?!"

"I shot off into the mystery mist and came back to where I started! It was fun!" The rubber man explained, running into the side of the ship.

"What?" Zoro asked looking around. He was definitely not in the same place where he'd fallen asleep - everything was misty and there were tons of ships around him. The green-haired man was so confused.

"It's a long story, sleeping beauty." Ussop sighed, happy that Luffy had gotten back on the ship okay and that he wasn't going to die for letting him wander (or shoot) off.

"I can explain it to you if you want," Henzo started, "But like the long nose fella said, it might take a while-hey! Are you listening?" The old man snapped as he was trying to be nice to the people who were helping him, but Zoro wasn't listening anymore – he was chasing Luffy around the Merry in an irritated rage.

"If I kiss you, will it make it better?" Luffy asked, dodging Zoro's swings as the swordsman tried to bash his head in for being the idiot who woke him up.

"No! Get over here so I can kill you!"

"No way! Not unless I get a kiss!"

"Why would I kiss you after what you did!?"

"Because you love me!"

"I hate you right now!"

"No you don't!"

"Should I be concerned about any of that?" Henzo asked, watching the pair sprint around like madmen.

"Probably not." Robin smiled sweetly. "We just have a very affectionate captain and first mate on board."

"Whatever you say. I don't understand kids much these days, but you've proven yourself to be and intelligent woman." Henzo replied, nodding to a fellow scientist. "I just hope that straw hat kid doesn't get lost in the mist if he does do that stretchy thing again and shoot off somewhere."

"With Zoro around, I don't think Luffy's going anywhere until he's been punished for disturbing his nap." Robin chuckled good naturedly, and the pair of them went back to discussing the Rainbow Mist and its unusual properties ignoring the ruckus behind them.

Meanwhile, Luffy jumped up the mast and Zoro followed close behind. Then the rubber man stretched his arms back behind him and wrapped them around the swordsman's neck and flipped himself upside down while retracting his arms, pulling him down until he was monkeyed on Zoro's back, his arms and legs hugging the man. Zoro growled as he leapt down to the deck, caught in Luffy's embrace and frowned at his position. Despite not wanting a kiss, Luffy snaked his stretchy neck around to Zoro's front and gave him a sloppy one on the lips with a giggle.

"There! I'm sorry!" Luffy smiled. Zoro was blushing, but his frown was still there.

"No you're not." He replied.

"But I really am! I didn't mean to wake you up." Luffy's smiled dropped off, replaced by a pout. Zoro sighed and saw that Luffy really did mean it, knowing that he'd lost the second that cute pout came out. He just really didn't like seeing Luffy sad. So, as an admission of forgiveness for disturbing his nap, Zoro grabbed the boy's head before it could snap back into place and gave Luffy his own kiss – one a lot less sloppy and a lot more sweet. When they broke away, the rubber man was smiling the hugest smile possible (and that was saying a lot since Luffy could stretch his mouth as wide as he needed it to be at any given moment) and Zoro was smiling too.

"You're hopeless." Ussop sighed, shaking his head at the pair. "You just can't win with Luffy can you?" He shrugged.

"Nope." Robin replied, smiling as the swordsman walked up to the forward deck with her captain still clinging to his back.

"And it doesn't really matter that I woke you up, Zoro." Luffy started chattering again. "Since we're probably stuck in here forever, you can take all the naps you want!"

"What do you mean we're stuck in here forever!?" Zoro yelled, his face in a state of shock.

"You're really hopeless." Ussop sighed, getting ready to explain everything. And Robin just smiled.

A/N: And there you go! See you all later! :3


	15. A Fight Not Worth Fighting

A/N: ZareEraz here! This is probably one of the most frustrating and golden scenes that I love. Now, while all the fights and beat downs are epic, this scene in the Jaya pub is one of those rare times where Luffy doesn't fight, he lets his lack of action speak for him and that's powerful in its own right. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter and all the undertones that I have come to find while watching One Piece for a second time, things I didn't notice at first that just make Oda that much more of a genius. Happy reading!

Chapter 15: A Fight Not Worth Fighting

To say it happened suddenly was an understatement. One moment, Luffy was having a drink with Bellamy the Hyena in that seedy pub on Jaya, and the next moment, Bellamy had Luffy's head smashed through the counter, splintering the wood to pieces. Bellamy was smiling, smiling like the Hyena he was. And in the next moment, Bellamy found a steel blade at his throat, poised to kill. Zoro was sitting on the counter, having moved instantly when his captain was threatened, his eyes narrowed in a cool gaze that would've had most men running for the hills. Zoro was pissed that someone had laid a hand to his friend, that someone had hurt the man he loved, and they were going to pay for it… _dearly_.

"HAHAHAHA! Brillant move, Bellamy!" Sarkies howled, his laughter echoing across the pub. "Just brilliant!" And that's about the time that Bellamy noticed the blade at his throat.

"What do you think you're doing... _punk_?" Bellamy's smile was back, that sick twisted smile pair with those wild eyes that really made him look like a beast. Zoro tightened his grip on the Yubashiri, ready to cut his head off if he made one wrong move.

"That's the question you should be asking yourself." Zoro hissed, his voice low and cool. If looks could kill, Bellamy would've been dead ten times over.

"Zoro! Don't do it!" Nami said from behind him, just as startled at the rest of the pub minus Bellamy's cronies. "We still need to get some information!"

"Be quiet!" Zoro snapped, his eyes still trained on his prey. "If this guy's looking for a fight I'll give it to him!" And then Luffy stood up. Zoro would never admit this to anyone, but his heart leapt at seeing the boy standing again. It's not that he didn't know that Luffy would be alright after that attack (in fact, he was rubber so he was mostly fine to begin with), but seeing Luffy on the ground was never a good sight, especially when the rubber man flattened anyone he was pissed off at. The only time Luffy should be on the ground is when he was sleeping, when Nami wailed on him or when Zoro was the one pushing him down. Any other time he was down was enough to cause a bit of worry.

"Is that all you've got for back up?" Bellamy sneered, watching Luffy rub off his chin with the back of his hand.

"Now…are you ready to take me on…or not?" Luffy asked raising his fists, his voice low and growling, like a lion who's just found his dinner. Just like Zoro's, in fact. Bellamy smiled, as if he was amused by the challenge.

"No way! The kid just challenged Bellamy!" A Bellamy crony jeered.

"He'll be slaughtered!" The pub broke out in wild laughter, a signature of the Hyena's crew. Bellamy was laughing too, his eyes wide and mocking.

"You've got it all wrong, kid! This isn't a fight, it's a test! Now come on! Let's see how strong you are!" Bellamy goaded, his smile widening. And then everything changed. Nami turned to the bartender and asked about the Sky Islands, the whole reason they'd come to Jaya, and the whole pub got quiet.

Bellamy got to talking, ridiculing the dreams of pirates, the search for the One Piece or anything else that resembled a great conquest for something seemingly unattainable or fictional, saying that these types of pirates were fools chasing after illusions. And as he went on and on, Luffy knew that no matter what he said or what he did, Bellamy wouldn't change and there was nothing he could do to defend himself when this man was so set in his ways that he refused to dream. What a sorry existence. It was like that time with Shanks and the mountain bandits; it was like Luffy had just gotten booze dumped on him. Shanks's words rang in his head.

 _The guy just spilled some booze on me, there's no used getting bent out of shape._

He wasn't worth the fight; the fight itself wasn't worth getting into. Luffy's fists uncurled.

Bellamy punched him right in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Luffy!" Nami yelled, her face confused. Zoro blinked, confused as well as he watched his captain fall to the ground again, seemingly by his own choice. The punch itself hadn't been forceful in the least, Zoro had seen Luffy take on much stronger attacks and stay on his feet, so what was going on?

"You're a weak pirate, just like they were." Bellamy was still yammering on as Luffy lay on the ground. "You're a weak pirate, just like they were. And as long as you're hanging around, you'll make us – the real pirates – look like trash." Someone threw a glass of booze at Luffy, shattering it next to his head, splashing his face in alcohol. Jeers and insults were thrown his way, a call for a beat down rose above the noise and shattering glass as more bottles were thrown at the Strawhats. Bellamy smiled, agreeing to entertain by ripping into the pirates he considered weak.

"Luffy! Zoro! Forget about all that pacifist crap I was talking about earlier and take this jerk out!" Nami called, as the pub howled for their heads. Luffy sat up, realizing that Nami was like he used to be, like that little kid who had no idea how to back down from a useless fight. But not anymore. Despite what most people thought of him, Luffy was smart, in his own way. Shanks would've been proud for what he was about to do, and it made Luffy proud too, even as he gave his orders, knowing that he'd learned at least one lesson from his hero.

"Zoro, whatever happens...don't fight back." Luffy ordered, looking up at the man he trusted more than life. He didn't want Zoro getting hurt, but this battle wasn't worth the effort that he knew the swordsman would put into it. This fight would tarnish Zoro's pride if he participated in it, and Luffy wouldn't allow that to happen, no matter the cost. Zoro was strong, he could handle it. He just had to be alright with letting Luffy get hurt. Zoro stared into the boy's eyes, no, he stared into the _man's_ eyes and saw something there that made him sheath his sword as Luffy stood up. They made no move as Bellamy laughed at them, they made no move when he punched them or when bottle shattered against their bodies. They stood, side by side, taking the brunt of the attacks, their very presence quietly pushing Nami back so she didn't get hurt. This was how they fought.

"Look at them! How are they still standing?!" A pub-goer laughed. Another round of howling ensued, followed by more flying bottles.

"Yeah, Bellamy! Wipe the floor with that green-haired freak!" Another jeered. Luffy's arm twitched unconsciously, wanting to deck whoever made a move at Zoro or Nami, but he'd made Zoro promise not to fight back, so he had to promise that himself. Another bottle shattered against his shoulder, tearing into him skin, another chair splintered against Zoro's back. They didn't move.

"Luffy! Zoro! Why are you letting them beat you like that?!" Nami's voice pierced the laughter and the insults, raw and hurting. "Go ahead and fight back! You guys can take them no problem!" She'd picked up Luffy's hat when it had fallen on the floor, holding against her chest so it wouldn't get damaged or destroyed. It was the only thing she could do right now, the only thing she could hold onto as she watched blood running down her friend's faces, cuts and bruises littering their bodies.

"HAHAHA! It's no use, lady. They're too smart for that." The one named Sarkies was talking again, his huge mouth running itself. "They've come to the realization that they're way out of their league. Refusing to fight a stronger opponent is disgraceful, but it is smart."

"Clearly the runt lacks any dignity as a captain." Another Bellamy crony chuckled.

"The Marines sure are generous these days, forking over thirty million for the head of a worthless, smart-mouth child." Nami's pride and confidence in her crewmates burned and prickled. They'd just beaten Crocodile, saved Alabasta! These runts were nothing compared to that! But still…Luffy didn't lift a finger to protect his pride and it frustrated her! That bastard! What and idiot.

"Come on…fight back…" Her voice almost broke as she stared at her captain and her crewmate in horror. What were they thinking?!

"Sounds nice, huh?" Bellamy chuckled over his drink, having let the crowd do his beating for him up until now. "The doctrine of non-resistance." He finished off the rest of his glass in one go, smiling evilly when he was finished. "So you're weak and you have no pride, you refuse to get into a fight and you're head is swimming with silly daydreams…" The Hyena wiped his mouth off, his tongue lolling out to lick up some stray booze. "They sound like children!"

"More like little girls!" Laugher broke out again, louder and crueler than before. Bellamy started a monologue again, saying how his work here was finished how he was disappointed that such a big bounty had turned out to be a spineless brat and downed half a bottle of sake when he was finished, spraying it onto to Luffy. Nami gasped, horrified that Luffy still wasn't doing anything, still not moving or retaliating.

"Quick! Get them out of my face!" Bellamy ordered. "Bye, ladies!" The Bellamy pirate with the silly pompom hat leaped up and kneed Zoro in the face, sending him careening across the pub, his back slamming into tables and chairs and lying limp on the floorboards. The Bellamy pirate with the baseball cap grabbed Luffy's head and whirled him around, running across the bar and slamming the rubber man's head through the front window, blood dripping down the fall as he collapsed to the ground. Nami ran to them, their names on her lips.

Sarkies then called out to her, trying to buy her onto their crew and Nami refused, stating that she was too good for them. The crowd laughed, but Nami was above it all after that, even if she still didn't understand, even if her ego and pride still raged at her to fight back – she didn't. Luffy sighed in relief, glad to know that Nami still held onto their pride for them while they refused to fight. She was a good friend.

"Take your two friends and get out of my sight!" Bellamy ordered, his wild smiled still on his face. "Before I decide otherwise…you got that weakling!?" Nami did as she was told, knowing that Luffy didn't want then fighting back for a reason, whatever that reason was. She slammed Luffy's hat back on his head and left the pub, bottles flying and shattering after her, the jeers continuing even after they left.

As Nami dragged both of their asses out of the pub, one shirt collar in each hand, Luffy's fingers came up behind her heels and brushed Zoro's fingers, silently apologizing for putting him – all of them – through that. As his hand fell back down to the ground, Luffy felt Zoro's hand reach out and brush his back, hopefully saying that he understood and that all was forgiven.

A/N: And there you go! See you all later! :3


	16. The Smell of Adventure

A/NL ZareEraz here! Time for another update! Yay! HQV and I have actually been done with Skypiea for about a week now, but I had a heck of a time trying to come up with titles for this chapter so it's a little late, but I hope it's worth the wait! (Teehee, that rhymed without me trying!) Now, this chapter is a little different because I have another story that fits in between "Saved by the Bell" and "Down to Earth" which is a mature fic that you can find in the One Piece category. It's called "Up to the Heavens" and both this story and the other one can be read independently but they have been written to go together. If mature isn't your style, don't worry, I've referenced what happens in this fic as well so you won't be lost if you don't read it. And with that...enjoy! Don't forget to let me know what you think in the review section! Happy reading! :3

Chapter 16: The Smell of Adventure

Beach Bums

The sky was nothing like they thought it was going to be…it was even more.

"There it is! Sky Island!" Luffy shouted, hanging onto the Merry's head, smiling like an idiot. The island in front of them was made of clouds, and it had buildings and bridges connecting the floating clouds together, like a skyway of sorts. And despite the cloud ground, there were bits of green – trees and plant flourished on the island, adding a splash of color to the pastel buildings and the while clouds around it. It was like a paradise laid out in front of them, just waiting to be explored. They had all had an idea of what was up in the sky, but such a pristine and amazing place blew the whole crew's mind. If God truly did exist, this was His land – Skypiea. The white waves of the sea ran up against the island, gently lulling back and forth as the Going Merry pulled up to the shore. Luffy was the first on off the ship, leaping onto the sky sand and taking a deep breath.

"You can smell the adventure! Potent as the seaweed in summer!" He shouted, crashing into the water.

"Wait for me! I like adventure!" Ussop called after him, kicking off his shoes and running up the Merry's head before leaping off as well.

"Kinda shallow!" Luffy warned him, a bit too late. Ussop hit the water arms and head first, collapsing into the white sea clouds, only his nose poking up. "Hey! Ussop! Did you hurt yourself?" Luffy asked. The sniper popped up out of the watery clouds and stared up at his captain in amazement.

"Is it just me…or is this whole place made out of clouds?" He asked.

"Biiiiiggggg fluffy ones!" Luffy sang back with an even bigger smile.

"I love this stuff!" The pair shared another smile before running ashore, starting all the excitement by themselves.

"Wait! I'm coming too!" Chopper called, jumping ship.

"Me too!" Nami smiled, "But I've got to change first." She ran off into her room without another word to anyone.

"Hey, Luffy!" Zoro called, being the only one who was still thinking properly about important things. "We may have a problem dropping anchor! There's not seabed at the bottom of this cloud."

"You know, I thought about that and who cares?!" Luffy shouted back, turning to look at the swordsman.

"I love the way you think!" Ussop winked, running into the rubber man and pushing him with this shoulder. Luffy shoved him back, starting up a game of the pair pushing and running into each other as they ran across the beach. It looked like fun, being so carefree, but Zoro still held back, walking portside to heft the heavy anchor off its hook and drop it into the white sea below. Despite not having a real bottom, the anchor hit something and stayed lodged, keeping the Merry in place. Zoro shrugged and looked back at the sky island, still a bit in awe by its presence.

"Come on down and check this out, you guys!" Luffy was yelling again. "The beach is actually _fluffy_!"

"It squishes between my toes like marshmallow mud!" Ussop added.

"What the heck is marshmallow mud?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know but that's what it feels like!" Ussop answered.

"Well, regardless of how the ground may feel, it's an amazing sight." Zoro said, almost to himself. "Better than I imagined."

"It is a piece of work, sure," Sanji replied, walking over to the railing. "But I think our shipmates are over reacting. It bugs me when they get all worked up." The cook slipped off his shoes and jumped into the sea, flipping no less than three times, his eyes having transformed into hearts. Zoro sweatdropped.

"'When they get all worked up,' huh?" He chided. Nami emerged in a blue camo bikini top and pants with the angry South Bird they'd forgotten to let go right at that moment, bringing Robin out with her and after a little discussion about the composition of the different clouds and how they might work up here, Nami brushed it all off by saying it made zero sense and that should just enjoy themselves, leaping off the ship and joining the others in the carousing. She kept shouting for Robin and Zoro to jump off the ship and get their asses moving, but Zoro just sat down on the upper deck's railing, watching his crew having the time of their lives.

"Swordsman…you coming?" Robin called, climbing up onto the nearest rail to jump off.

"Yeah, I'll be along in soon." He replied, smiling.

"The captain smells adventure…" She mused. "Huh. I'd never stopped to think of any of this as adventure. Maybe I should reconsider my stance." Robin was smiling now too and leapt off the rail to head to the beach. And soon they were all being unproductive.

Chopper was rolling across the cloud beach, half sleep, Sanji was running around with sky flowers in his hands looking for Nami and Robin, Ussop was sculpting out the cloud beach like he would normal sand, Nami was stopping Chopper from rolling anymore and dragged him off to explore a little beach gazebo with chairs and Luffy was hanging from a tree by one leg, shouting something about how he was having too much fun to do captain stuff (and that made Zoro sigh about how he _never_ did captain stuff).

"Alright, Mr. Giant Fruit!" Luffy giggled, grabbing a huge green, pumpkin looking thing off the tree he was sitting in and crossing his legs, letting the fruit rest in his lap, "You're all mine!" And then he proceeded to try and take the hugest bite out of it, and failing when the thing nearly broke his teeth. "Ow! That hurt! Why is this thing so hard?!" He punched the fruit lightly and then decided on the best course of action with what to do with it: and that was to drop it on Ussop.

"You practically crammed my brain into my chest! What's wrong with you!?" Ussop said after his head had been pushed into his cloud sculpture, a huge goose egg appearing on his noggin. Luffy just laughed at him. And that's when Zoro shucked off his shoes and leapt into the sea below, to join his friends. He, sloshed through the sea and up onto the beach, making a discovery of his own. It was a kind of fox, and he'd picked it up by the tail, surprising the beast and making it squirm.

"Sorry." He apologized, letting it go. The sky fox landed on its feet and shook itself out, staring up at the man as if it was just as curious about the new thing as he was. Before Zoro could look at the creature further, the sound of the harp drifted over the beach, announcing to the crew that they weren't alone. Zoro's hands instantly went to his swords, but he had nothing to worry about, their guest wasn't a threat. She was an angel.

Her name was Conis and she welcomed them to Angel Beach, befriending the crew with the soft manner and kind smile. Sanji was already smitten with her and the rest of the crew was curious as she walked up to them. She took the second fruit that Luffy had plucked out of the tree and produced a knife, flipping the fruit over to its underside.

"The top of a conassh is as hard as steel; it's impossible to crack, so you have to cut through the underside – like this." Conis knelt down, cutting a hole in the bottom and putting a straw into it, turning the fruit into the drink. She handed it back to Luffy who took a monster drink.

"It's goooooood!~" He sang, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

"If it's that good, I want to try some!" Ussop said, grabbing the straw and drinking. "It's gooooood!~" He had the same reaction as Luffy. Conis smiled at the pair, picking up her Cloud Fox and petting her. She told the Strawhats that they could ask her anything if they had questions and Nami immediately took her up on her offer, but they were interrupted yet again by the appearance of a man riding on a strange contraption out in the middle of the sea. His name was Pagaya and he was Conis' father. The thing he was riding was a waver (which he immediately crashed onto the beach) and which Nami instantly fell in love with. It was like a small, one-person boat with an odd, upright steering bar and handles and had something shooting out of the back of it, and when she rode it, she was a natural, zooming across the White-White Sea like a pro. Luffy (who had tried the waver and crashed it) got all moody and sulked off with his conassh sipping the fruit with a frown on his face. Zoro followed the young man across the beach as Sanji started talking to Pagaya about the island and tried to woo Conis.

Luffy stopped at a poof of cloud piled on the beach and flopped down on it back first and Zoro sat down cross-legged next to him, taking his swords out of his sash and leaned them on his shoulder. Luffy mumbled something about Nami being a show off and Zoro just chuckled to himself.

"What was that!?" Luffy snapped.

"You're just jealous that she can ride it and you can't." Zoro replied. Luffy growled at him and held the conassh (top side down) over his head and dropped it.

"Here! Have some!" He hissed.

"OW!" Zoro shouted, as the rock hard fruit konked him on the head, he caught it in his lap and snatched it away before Luffy could grab it again, glaring at his captain as a goose egg swelled on his crown. "And for that I am having some!" Zoro sucked on the straw with all his might, drinking most of the delicious juice inside of the fruit.

"Don't drink it all!" Luffy shout-whined, trying to grab the conassh, but Zoro stuck his hand in Luffy's face and pushed him back. The rubber boy struggled for a minute, but then caught sight of Sanji flirting with Conis still, trying to make her fall in love with him, but he didn't seem to be getting anywhere with her. Sanji's romantic crushes were hilarious, but Luffy wondered why Sanji was always going after the ladies? He guessed that Nami and Robin were fun as friends but why would he devote so much time and attention to them when they didn't flirt back or show that they loved him. It was weird…unless…he was after something else as well…

"Hey, Zoro." Luffy poked the swordsman by stretching his arm out. Zoro looked at him, still draining the conassh.

"Hm?" He grunted.

"How do guys do it with guys?" Luffy asked bluntly. Zoro choked on his surprise, spiting the juice of the conassh out violently and then coughing when his chest heaved. Once he caught his breath he whirled on Luffy shocked at his question.

"Where did that come from?!" He snapped. Luffy pointed at Sanji and Conis and it made a little more sense. "So what did the cook tell you?" Zoro asked, his competitive nature with the swirly-eyebrow bastard flaring, thinking of him and Luffy discussing… _those things_ together.

"It wasn't Sanji. I was just watching him flirt! It was Robin!" Luffy declared. If Zoro had had more juice to spit out, he would've spit it twice as far.

"Robin!?" He yelped, more scared of what she'd say to Luffy than Sanji.

"Yeah, I asked her what people do together when they're in love and she told me that they do fun things together like going to dinner or festivals and parties or living together or having sex." And now Zoro was blushing because Luffy was acting so completely innocent while mentioning some very risqué things. "And since I love you, I want to do those things too!" Luffy continued. "But we already have dinner together and we have fun adventures together and we already kind of live together, so I wanted to have sex with you! Sanji only goes after girls, which I guess is how people usually do it, but can guys do it? Can we do it?"

And his face was so sincere and curious that Zoro just sighed and started explaining how sex worked with two men. This is what he had wanted for a while, to be more intimate with Luffy than just cuddles and kisses as they'd travel down the Grand Line, but having to actually explain the mechanics was a little embarrassing, especially when Luffy's eyes were glued to his, nodding at some parts and giggling at others than made Zoro blush. Having to explain wasn't romantic at all and he'd had to shush the rubber man several times so not to draw attention to themselves before he was finished. But in the end, Luffy seemed to get what having sex would entail for them and just nodded eagerly.

"Let's do it!" He smiled widely, reaching for Zoro's shirt.

"Not right now!" Zoro hissed, slapping his hands away.

"Why not? Do you not want to?" Luffy asked, his smile starting to drop.

"No!" Zoro denied quickly. "It's just we can't do it right here right now, on the beach." The green-haired man thought for a moment, trying to figure out the best way for them to be together. He knew that Luffy would want to explore as much of Skypiea as he could, and adventure was always following close behind and Luffy tended to attract trouble. So if there was some sort of danger, he wanted his captain to be in peak condition, and not having to deal with any discomfort that would come from them being intimate. So the most decent course of action was also the most sensible.

"How about we do it after this adventure is over, okay?" Zoro suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"When we've explored the sky islands and had our adventures like you want, we can do it. That's what I mean."

"Okay! You promised!" Luffy laughed his signature shi shi shi and smiled widely and Zoro wondered how he ever got into Luffy's mess in the first place. Oh yeah, he owed Luffy his life from letting him save himself from the Marines. He owed Luffy his life, but it had changed…Luffy was his life now. His life and the crew's. They were nakama after all. Zoro sighed and leaded back on Luffy's cloud pile, reaching up to grab the young man's head and bring him down for a kiss. Luffy was chuckling again, the happy sound slipping out between their lips.

"Hey! Beach bums!" Sanji called, his voice hovering between annoyance at having to call to his wandering crew members and still trying to sound nice for Conis. "We're having lunch at my lovely Conis' house! So get moving!"

"Aye! Aye!" Luffy, Chopper and Ussop all shouted, excited by the prospect of food, leaping up and dashing across the beach from their respective spots, Luffy leaving Zoro behind.

"You too, lover boy!" Sanji hissed.

"You're the lover boy." Zoro retorted, standing up and slipping his swords back into their sash as he started walking towards the stairs leading up from the beach.

"Today you're the lover boy from what I saw," Sanji teased meanly, his mocking smile letting Zoro know that's he'd been watching. The crew was totally fine with him and Luffy being affectionate with each other, but when Sanji teased him about it, Zoro hated him that much more.

"And from what I saw, you're still hopeless." Zoro replied, grinning callously. "At least I can get some ass when I want it." Sanji turned to stone, having no insult or retort to follow up with. And having pounded the swirly-eyebrow cook into the dust, Zoro followed his crewmates up the stairs to the angels' houses in the sky.

Shanghaied

"Always thinking with his stomach," Zoro grumbled to himself, hauling himself up the rope ladder that Robin had dropped.

"Worried about our captain?" The archeologist asked smoothly, leaning on the rail a little ways down from the swordsman.

"They're all crazy, thinking that they need dials and food when we're clearly in trouble. Not that it matters much to me, but Nami's incredibly upset. Whatever she saw spooked her."

"You're damn right it did!" Nami stomped up the ladder as well as she could, still in a pissy mood after having returned from the Upper Yard. "We do not want to be in any of that! So I don't get why Luffy is so keen to go."

"You know how he is. There's no persuading Luffy of anything. He won't listen, even if we all gang up on him." Zoro waved her off, walking down the stairs to the lower deck and sitting down with his back to the main mast, leaning his swords against his shoulder for his nap.

"Fine! Then I guess I'll stay put!" Nami retorted.

"Well, you're free to do whatever you want."

"I KNOW THAT!" She shouted, baring her fangs. "But if I say here I'll be killed!"

"Yep," He replied, not caring. What would happen would happen – there was no changing it. "Quite a predicament." And then the green-haired man folded his arms around his swords and fell asleep almost instantly. Zoro didn't hear Nami's complaining, or Conis' explanation of a current that would take them to Cloud End, bypassing Upper Yard, or Chopper dragging up the anchor. He didn't head their sighs of relief that they were going to foil Luffy's heinous idea of going to the Upper Yard and getting in trouble and he definitely didn't hear trouble already headed their way. What he did hear (and felt) was when something huge rammed into the ship from beneath, sending everything and everyone reeling from the impact.

"What's going on?" Zoro asked, startled awake when the ship tilted and creaked wildly. His swords fell from their spot and he reached out and grabbed all three before they could hit the ground.

"I think we're already caught in the current." Chopper guessed, hanging onto the Merry as they rocked from side to side. The ship rolled again, swaying haphazardly and starting to move…but it moved backwards! Nami screamed and grabbed the railing, hanging on as tight as she could. Robin ran to the rail and looked down, trying to see if something had caught them. Zoro was up in a flash, leaping to the side of the boat and looking down too, trying to figure out if there was some way to stop whatever had captured them.

"Are we in a current?" He asked, voicing Chopper's guess as a question.

"No. I think we have a bigger issue here," Robin answered, her voice low. Zoro's hands went to his swords, ready for anything. As soon as the threat revealed itself, he'd slice it down and stop the ship from moving too far away from its captain. The beach was already vanishing at a startling rate, the house where Luffy and the other's already a speck on the horizon. It wouldn't be long now before it disappeared altogether and Zoro wouldn't let that happen if he could help it. Luffy was going to be back in a few minutes and they were going to set sail together, crew and all. That didn't quite work if half the crew was still stuck on Angel Island while they were headed who knows where. Zoro squinted at the shore, trying to catch a glimpse of his captain, their sniper and their cook, but they were too far away now, getting dragged into the White-White Sea.

An almost physical ache blossomed in the swordsman's chest as he realized that they'd all become separated. Luffy and the others couldn't catch up with them at this rate, and they were going to be on their own, split almost right down the middle. Zoro took out one of his swords and planted it into the Merry's deck (Ussop would rant at him later for it) to balance himself while the ship rocked wildly again, zooming away even faster. He could barely see the beach and he hoped that Luffy and the others had seen them disappear, otherwise, they'd be none the wiser to where the ship and the rest of the crew sent.

Thankfully, Ussop was paying attention.

"Hey! Something's wrong with the ship!" Ussop yelled, running over to the outdoor railing at Pagaya's and Conis' house and staring in shock as his precious ship tilted wildly in the White-White Sea.

"What?" Sanji asked, running over.

"Take a look! She just started rocking all of a sudden!" Ussop pointed to the Merry and Luffy came over to see what was up too.

"Really? I hope they're not having a party without us." Luffy said, frowning at the fact that those four had left him out of the fun.

"Hey, look! It's Nami!" Sanji said, gazing through a small telescope, seeing Nami hanging onto the ship as it tilted again, now wearing a T-shirt over her bikini top. His face turned a depressing blue. "Wait…why in the world is she wearing a T-shirt?!" Sanji was so upset that he couldn't see the navigator's beautiful figure anymore and started chewing on his own shirt in mortification.

"I'm pretty sure we have more pressing concerns right now!" Ussop smacked him, growling at the cook.

"Guys, look! The ship's started moving!" Luffy exclaimed, finally getting worried about what was happening. This was all wrong. The Merry was going out to see without them…and backwards! The ship couldn't go backwards! "But why?! They wouldn't just leave us here, would they?" Zoro wouldn't really leave him behind, would he? No that was silly! But what was going on!? "I don't think I've ever seen a ship sailing backwards before!"

"But they haven't even set the sails yet!" Ussop argued. "There's something underneath them!"

"'Kay…what is that?!" Ussop and Luffy both asked, horrified.

"It must be…" Pagaya started saying, walking up to the railing and looking out at the quickly retreating ship. And that's when the giant lobster showed itself, popping up out of the clouds and clamping its claws on each of the Merry's broken wings, GOD written on its forehead. "The legendary White-White Sea Super Express Lobster!" It was twice the size of the lobster that had dragged them up through Heaven's Gate, an amazing sight to say the least, but since it was dragging their friends away, the awe of such a massive beast was clouded over by panic and surprise. Things were more lively back on the ship.

"Guys! We're being hijacked!" Zoro shouted, taking charge. "We have to abandon ship! Come on! We've got to move right now while we still have time!"

"We can't leave the ship! Without it, how will we get back home!?"

"Then I'll stay behind! Just go! Now!" Zoro shouted, will to sacrifice himself and stay with the ship to let his crew get away. As long as someone was there, they might be able to meet up again, even if it meant that he was alone.

"Forget it!" Nami shouted, tightening her grip on the rail. "You can't defend the whole ship by yourself!"

"All manage!" Was his reply, putting the Wado Ichimonji into his mouth and leaping off the Merry. He landed on the shell of the lobster and reached for the Kitetsu III and the Yubashiri, drawing all three of his swords with quick efficiently before slashing down at the beast. The slashes ricocheted off of the hard shell, sending sparks flying in the direction his swords had swung. They didn't even leave a scratch. Again and again he attacked, jumping across the lobster's shell in an attempt to hurt the thing, to slow it down before they vanished from sight. After five attacks, he stopped, sheathing his blades.

"Oh, come on." He huffed, looking at the unharmed shell. Then, cracks started appearing across the hard surface, fracturing where his blades as cut. "That's more like it! Alright, we're making progress." He smiled, flicking the guard of the Yubashiri with his thumb to start drawing the sword again. If he could just stop the lobster, then they could sail the ship back to the shore, back to the rest of their crew.

"I don't think that's going to get you anywhere." Robin commented, looking down at the man and lowering the rope ladder. "Come back onboard." She ordered.

"Why should I?" Zoro turned his scary eyes on her.

"You'll never be able to significantly damage that creature and we've got bigger problems now…look!" She nodded to the front of the ship.

"What?" Zoro huffed, looking back towards the shore, clicking the Yubashiri back into place. They were being followed. Sky Fish were leaping out of the water, their serpentine bodies undulating with their leaps, hissing and snapping their jaws as they waited for someone to jump off.

"A school of vicious Sky Fish are following us, ready to attack." Robin explained. "We can't jump ship and escape now. Even if we did manage to defeat the Sky Fish, I'm sure more would arrive to take their place. Our punishment has already begun…and there's no way to stop it."

"Heaven's Judgment? They must be taking us to the forbidden island. I guess they got tired of waiting. Eneru's really got it in for us." Zoro reasoned. If Eneru was behind this, then that's the only place they could be headed. _At least Luffy gets to see the island that he's been so excited about, no stopping it this time._

"Oh no." Nami breathed, her knees collapsing as she sank to the deck. "Please…I can't go back there!

"LUFFY! HELP US!" Nami screamed, reflecting what Zoro was feeling in his heart. "SANJI!" He definitely wasn't feeling that one, "USSOP!" He shrugged that one off. He knew that they were coming to get them no matter what…Luffy wasn't giving up his adventure or his crew. It just wasn't in his nature. Nami's voice rose over the White-White Sea, fading away in the vastness of the clouds all too quickly.

Back at Conis' house, A profound sense of quiet had passed over the five inhabitants, the remaining Strawhats having fallen silent as their ship and their crew disappeared over the horizon, trailing by a school of Sky Fish. Luffy watched in quite horror as his ship was dragged out of sight, feeling an emptiness in his stomach as his friend's and boyfriend vanished with it. But there was also something else roiling around in his stomach…the smell of adventure. Half of his crew was already on one and he was going to find them no matter what…which meant that _he_ was going to have an adventure too.

 _Zoro, keep everyone safe until I figure this out,_ Luffy sent that one thought out to his first mate. _We will figure this out together…just wait for me._

Party Animals

"That's what you were sensing, Ussop!" Luffy chuckled merrily. "An incredibly unsafe drop off of this tree!" And that's when the Crow tipped over the other side of the tree, hightailing it down the Milky Road at breakneck speed. Luffy and Ussop screamed (Luffy's was more joyous) and Sanji just kept an eye on the road ahead of them quietly, searching for danger or the three other priests that they'd hadn't seen yet.

"Please tell me it's not another corkscrew!" Ussop wailed, hoping to keep whatever was left in his stomach from the last spiral into nauseousness.

"Huh…you see them down there?" Sanji asked, looking through the hole in the tree canopy that the Milky Road passed through, seeing the Sky Sharks in their path.

"Are those the priests!?" Ussop's eyes were closed as he asked, praying that it wasn't.

"No, just Sky Sharks." Sanji replied calmly.

"Oh, thank goodness! I thought for sure that we were goners – whoa, whoa, WHOA! What do you mean, Sky SHARKS?!" Ussop screamed, hanging onto the mast of the Crow even tighter. The Sky Sharks were waiting for them at the bottom of the drop, their mouth and vicious teeth just waiting to tear them apart. "Those suckers will swallow us all!" Good thing, Luffy had a plan. He jumped onto the top of the Crow's head, and wound up his arms, itching for some action.

"Gum Gum…GATTLING!" He shouted, raining down a barrage of punches that sent the Sky Shark flying as the boat slid into the cove below the Milky Road. The fish were knocked up and floated in the water listlessly as the Crow skipped across the Sea Clouds like a rock, soaking all its passengers.

"We're soaking wet!" Ussop complained. Luffy ignored him and looked at the new place they were in. There was a huge stone structure in the middle of the cove, all lit up with tribal torches and the Going Merry was sitting on top of it. They'd found the altar and the rest of the crew!

"Check it out! We found them!" Luffy shouted happily, pointing at the altar and the Merry. "There's the altar with the Going Merry sitting right on top!" Luffy's shouts drew the attention of Zoro, Nami and Robin who were on the shore and talking to Chopper on the Merry, and they all smiled happily as they saw their captain and the rest of the crew with him.

"Nami! Robin! I missed you so much! Sorry to keep you waiting but I beat the Ordeal of Love to get here!" Sanji called, his eyes turning to hearts. Luffy was laughing and waving wildly with his mouth stretched into a huge grin as well.

"Hey! I thought I was 'Spheres' not 'Love!'" Luffy argued.

"If that was love, I don't ever want to find it again!" Ussop added, his voice trembling. Nami was so confused by the conversation, not understanding a word that was coming out of their mouths. "But who cares!? We're alive!"

"Sounds like they're happy to be here," Nami smiled. "Safe and sound." And that's when Luffy decided that he was tired of waiting to get to the shore and just sling-shotted himself out of the Crow and into Zoro's tackling the swordsman while shouting his name.

"ZOOOROOOO!" The captain of the Strawhats Pirates yelled, knocking the green-haired man off his feet and into the ground, planting a huge kiss on his lips at their reunion.

"Yep, happy." Nami sighed, rolling her eyes at her friend's behavior. And then Luffy wouldn't let go of the swordsman and just hopped on his back and wrapped his legs around Zoro's waist, forcing him to carry the young man around as they made their way back to the ship. The Merry was trashed, the Sky Knight was resting in the kitchen area and it was almost dark. Sanji made the call to camp and land and Luffy was so excited to camp that he tried jumping up and down on Zoro's shoulders and Zoro let it happen until Luffy stepped on his head and he dumped the rubber man onto the ground.

"This isn't a party! We're in enemy territory!" Ussop chided loudly. "Now calm down!"

"Not a party, got it." Luffy repeated, peeking over the side of the ship to the hoard of unconscious Sky Sharks floating in the clouds. He still hadn't had dinner yet and those fish were looking really tasty. He started drooling at the prospects of barbeque fish, but…he had to make sure that barbequing was a party…so he asked Ussop. "Hey, Ussop…? Is a barbeque a party?"

And the crew dissolved into giggles because Luffy had found yet another loophole to get what he wanted.

They all went ashore and set up camp and Sanji fried Luffy up one of the Sky Sharks to keep his mouth full and quiet as they all reported on what they'd encountered during the day. What resulted was a report that included two of the priests (both with a power to predict moves called mantara), and the realization that Upper Yard had actually been Jaya four hundred years ago and the City of Gold was up in the sky instead of down at the bottom of the ocean, which then got Luffy excited about an adventure with gold in it for once, and Nami had to agree with him on that one. And so did Robin who said it "sounded like fun," and Sanji smiled and said that they wouldn't be very good pirates if they turned their backs on gold and Zoro figured that everyone up here already hated them, so why not steal the gold?

So it was decided that they were going gold hunting the next day, to make their fortune and be good pirates…only they had to get through the night first before that could happen, and Sanji started ordering everyone around to get things prepared for the next day. Chopper and Zoro wandered into the forest in search of herbs and plants to use as medicine to treat the Sky Knight and their own scrapes and they were also catching meat for dinner. Nami and Robin were in charge of coming up with a plan for tomorrow and Ussop was out gathering lumber to fix the Merry in the morning, which just left Sanji to cook and Luffy to be bored. Well, the rubber man did have a job – he was supposed to fill up the canteens with the distilled water Sanji was boiling, but it wasn't a very fun job and he was sooooooo bored. But thankfully, before he could complain too much to the cook or start making trouble, Zoro and Chopper came back with their successful search, relieving the young man's boredom. Zoro dropped off his rats and frogs and crap with Sanji and was immediately glomped onto by Luffy.

"Luffy! Are you going to do this all night?" Zoro huffed, happy to have the attention, but it was getting real tiresome to haul his boyfriend around his back when he still had things to do.

"Yep! I missed you!" Luffy said, shimmying his way around to Zoro's back again and wrapping his arms and legs around his neck and waist respectively. And then he was distracted by the pot of stew the cook was making!"Smells like a winner!" Luffy sang, stretching his arm out to lift the pot's lid and take a bite.

"Hands off!" The cook snapped, leaping up into the air and crashing his heel down on Luffy's head, inadvertently kicking Zoro as well, and he was not happy about that.

"Hey!" The swordsman hissed, but he was ignored when Luffy's whining cut in.

"But, Sanji! I'm hungry!"

"It's not ready yet!" The blonde shouted, baring his fangs at the endless void which was his captain and his stomach. "Weren't you just cramming a Sky Fish down your gullet not ten minutes ago!?"

"Yeeaaaahhhh," Luffy admitted. "But that was just an appetizer, I figured you knew that." Sanji growled, pissed that no matter what he did, Luffy just could not be full when it came to food.

"Hey! Moss-head!" Sanji snapped.

"Huh?" Zoro growled back, ready to pound the swirly-eyebrow cook into dust for insulting him.

"Keep your boyfriend entertained while I cook!" And for once, Zoro didn't argue. It was a good idea. The swordsman reached behind him and grabbed Luffy's shirt collar, hauling the skinny man up and over his head and holding him out in front of his body like a dirty sock before walking off a little ways into the forest. They could still see the campfire from there and were still in its circle of light, so it wouldn't be a problem to get back without getting lost.

"Hey, Zoro!" Luffy asked, a mischievous grin on his face. "Are we going what I think we're doing?" He questioned with suggestive eyebrows. Zoro had promised after all…

"No. We're taking a nap. I'm tired." Zoro replied, cock blocking Luffy before he even got started.

"Aw!" The rubber man whined as Zoro sat down and deposited the skinny boy into his lap, laying his swords on the ground simultaneously. "But you promised!"

"I said _after_ the adventure, remember? We're not done here yet." Zoro reminded. "Now calm down." Zoro wrapped his arms around Luffy and pulled him closer to his chest, resting his chin on the boy's head. Luffy pouted but still snuggled into his boyfriend.

"You're mean." He grumbled.

"No, I'm being sensible." Zoro replied. "I don't want to hear any complaining about it tomorrow so we're not doing it." Luffy didn't reply and neither of them said a word for a few minutes…probably because both of them had dozed off almost instantly when the quiet set it.

Fifteen minutes passed quickly and Sanji sent Ussop off to find the pair and tell them dinner was ready and that's where the sniper found them, curled up like two bugs in a rug. He giggled at them both quietly and waved Chopper over to take a peek, the reindeer smiling happily as he saw his friends napping peacefully. But then they had to wake them up eventually and the pair wandered back into the camp to eat, yawning at the same time.

"Have a nice nap?" Nami teased, giving the pair a once-over.

"Yeah!" Luffy answered perkily. "A good sleep!"

"Great. Then sit down and we'll go over everything while we eat." And then Nami explained how things were going to go down the next day. The crew would split into two teams: one team would stay with the Merry and sail her to the eastern side of the island to pick up the other team, the one who was going gold hunting once they'd snagged all they could. And that pretty much wrapped up the meeting.

But a lot of things happened really quickly after dinner because Robin wanted to douse the fires to hid their location from enemies on the island, but Luffy and Ussop wanted the fires because you had to have a campfire when camping and then Nami agreed with Robin because she didn't want the island's monsters to kill them and then Chopper got scared and started worrying about said monsters and then Sanji and Zoro popped in and showed Luffy their impressive stack of wood that they'd Lincoln-Logged into a pile (which was for the bonfire the captain had planned to have) and then to top it off, they got attacked by wolves who were disturbed by the Strawhats' noise, but Nami punched the mean right out of the leader when he said that everything belonged to them (which she assumed included the gold and she wasn't letting anyone get in the way of her and her gold) and then they had a party. So…it was pretty much a normal night for the crew, minus the wolves of course because none of them had had a party with a pack of wolves before.

"CAMPFIRE!" Luffy shouted, getting the party started. The bonfire was lit, the booze was passed out (some from the Strawhat's stores and the rest was surprisingly made by the Cloud Wolves) and soon, everyone was dancing and laughing and drinking, proclaiming the party a festival on the night before they went gold hunting. Chopper was riding one of the wolves because he was so short and Sanji was calling to Robin to come join in on the fun. The archeologist just smiled and continued sipping her drink. Even Zoro was clinking bottles and cups with the wolves, finding a drinking partner with hardly any effort.

"Tomorrow the treasure's ours!" Luffy shouted, holding up Sanji's soup ladle like a scepter.

"Aye! Treasure!" Chopper answered just as loudly.

"Tomorrow!" Sanji added, dancing around with a very pretty girl wolf. And then Luffy was tackled by a wolf and Sanji tackled the wolf and then another wolf plus Ussop jumped on top of _him_ and they all came tumbling down. But they all got up and started partying again just as rambunctiously as before.

"Zoro! Dance with me!" Luffy called from in between two Cloud Wolves. The trio was up on their hind legs, kicking and dancing around the bonfire, howling like the wild animals they were. It looked like fun. Zoro left his drinking companion what was left in his stein and went to join his boyfriend at the bonfire. What Luffy had meant by "dancing" ended up being Zoro lifting the short man onto his shoulders and keeping him from falling off while he waving his arms and wiggling up in the air. "I'm tall!" He laughed, howling with the wolves as they sent up a chorus to the moon.

"You're about to be much shorter if you lean back any further!" Zoro sweated, trying to keep Luffy from falling off by grabbing his legs as the rubber man leaned even further back. Zoro lost his footing and fell back in a heap with Luffy, both men giggling and a little tipsy from the drinking and they ended up rolling on the ground, starting up a cacophony of laughing from everyone else, including the wolves. The night was young, and they had much to be excited about. Only after the fire had died down and the booze had run out, did the crew and the wolves finally drift off into sleep in a huge dog pile (minus Robin and Nami who found their own places on the ground). Sanji's head was on the belly of a wolf, his foot resting on Ussop's thigh and the sniper's own head was on the ground while his lower body was draped across another wolf. And Zoro and Luffy and Chopper? They were all huddled together in a mess of Cloud Wolves, all limps and no space, but they still slept peacefully on, dreaming about the adventure and the gold waiting for them in the morning.

Hell and High Lightning

Pain…blinding, unending pain and despair. Electricity coursed through Zoro's veins, lighting up every single nerve in his body, burning every cell and hair, charring his very soul as the lightning wolf that Eneru sent at him sunk his fangs deep into his chest. He couldn't feel normally anymore, everything was so intensified and arduous to process outside the bounds of the agony of being electrocuted. The electricity? Terrifying suffering. Dropping his swords? Heartbreaking failure. Hitting the ground? Inconsequential. Knowing that he'd failed his captain and his crew in their search for gold and his duty to protect his friends? Tortuous anguish.

He'd faced God and lost, falling with his allies and supposed enemies. Chopper…Robin…Nami…Gan Fall… they were lost too, all because he couldn't even touch the man ruining everything on the island. Who could even touch lightning? Who could go up against that and not die in the process. They couldn't defeat him if they couldn't touch him, it was that simple. He was almighty, but for the wrong reasons and Zoro wished he could've knocked him down a few pegs, but it all happened so fast, and now he was on the ground, his skin burned, losing consciousness. He hadn't even found Luffy yet, hadn't even see any of the gold they were looking for. But none of that mattered now, because the blackness was setting in, blocking out everything as the last of the lightning left his body, sparking its way to the ground beneath him.

He didn't see or hear anything, not Wyper standing up once more only to fall, not Nami leaving with Eneru, not Luffy and Isa and Pierre falling out of the snake's mouth and landing with a lot of noise, and he didn't hear Luffy screaming that he'd finally gotten out of the snake. . All of that was lost on Zoro, the act of barely breathing tiresome for his charred body.

"WE'RE FREE!" Luffy screamed, running up the nearest building and throwing his arms into the air. "We finally made it out! Whoo hoo! Where are we? What are these old buildings?" Isa was right behind him, running up to the top of the stone ruin and looking around. It was a city, a stone city that was crumbling and overgrown with vines and moss, but it was still amazing. "This looks like the place where that huge golden bell is supposed to be!"

"What is this place?" Isa asked, the little girl trying to riddle out where they'd ended up. "Wait…could this be our homeland?" Her eyes opened wide, seeing Shandora for the first time in her life and Luffy was doing the same thing, looking around to see what there was to see.

"Your homeland?" He asked, spotting a huge hole in the ground not far from them. "Not bad! But where did that big hole come from?" He asked. And then he didn't say anything else, having seen something that made his heart nearly stop, his stomach rolling in fear as the bodies down on the ground started to look familiar. His eyes widened and he leapt off the building holding his hat to his head, leaving Isa behind to complain about him leaving her. Luffy ran as fast as he could, heading to the spot with the big hole desperately. When he got there, he was horrified to figure out that what he'd thought had happened had actually happened. They were laying on the ground, seemingly dead, their bodies dark and charred like something had roasted them. Chopper…Robin…Old Knight Guy…that weird Guerrilla…and Zoro too! Luffy dashed over to his first mate, his heart twisting in worry, grabbing his shoulders and lifting him up, shaking, trying to get him to wake up, trying to see past the burnt skin and blood in search of some sign of life.

"Hey! Zoro!" He said, his voice nearly breaking with worry and fear. "What's wrong with you?! Say something!" _Please don't be dead!_ Zoro didn't wake up and get mad at him for disturbing his nap, he didn't wake up and ask where they were, and he didn't wake up, period. It was like he was dead. But Zoro couldn't be dead! He was strong! He was tough enough to beat up almost anybody! "How could this have happened to you...? How could any of this happen with you here…?" Luffy's voice dropped, horror dawning on him. He leaned down and rested his head against the man's shoulder, holding back a few tears. "Zoro…" And then he heard something soft brushing against his skin. Breath...Zoro was breathing still! Luffy smiled, his head popping up as he realized that the man he loved was still alive! But that joy was wiped away as he also realized that someone was stronger than Zoro and the rest of his crew, someone that had hurt his friends…someone that was going to get an ass kicking as revenge for messing with his nakama!

Anger kindled in Luffy's belly, spurred on by Pierre's squawks as he tried to get the Old Knight Guy to wake up, and spurred on by Isa's screams and sobs of "Wyper!" Spurred on by the fact that Nami was gone, that Robin was barely breathing as she explained what had happened to Luffy while being held in his arms – that Nami was with Eneru, that Eneru was planning to destroy Skypiea. Luffy needed to find that bastard and teach him the consequences of hurting his crew. Eneru was going to pay dearly for hurting his friends!

"I know where they are…there are only two voices left on the island." Isa said, trembling in anger and fear at the prospect of her newly found homeland disappearing before her eye. "They're Nami and Eneru."

"Isa…" Luffy said, his voice dropping low as he set Robin back down carefully so she could rest. "I need you to take me to them right now!" He hissed, his eyes on fire. _Eneru…you're going to wish that you'd never met me!_ Luffy's fists balled up, ready to destroy God in the name of his injured crew…ready to beat down the unbeatable in retaliation for his friends and nothing was going to get in his way.

He left Robin with the others, trusting her to take care of them as he walked away, dead set on avenging his fallen comrades.

Saved by the Bell

It rang. It rang for all to hear, clear and pure as it's voice rattled the heavens. The bell shined in the brilliant sun that had hidden behind the angry thunderclouds, ringing even as it fell from its four hundred year perch in the sky. The bell dropped into the White-White Sea, ringing until its voice was drowned by the clouds, the joyful song flowing across the island.

 _The fight is over!_ It said. _The fight is over!_

And up on a little cloud still hanging in the sky after Eneru's final Raigo, two people were resting from their ordeals on the back of a cloud, listening to the ringing of the bell far below them as it sank into the sea. Luffy was lying on his back, looking up at the sky and Nami sat next to him grinning ear to ear, the waver next to them, forgotten for the moment.

"It rang." Luffy said, breaking their silence. "Hey…I wonder if Pops heard it." Luffy had rang the bell for him, for Montblanc Cricket and his ancestor Noland, to prove that the City of Gold wasn't a lie, that it really did exist. "I hope he did."

"Yeah, I'm sure he did." Nami replied quietly. She didn't say anything else for a while, just letting them both rest after all their trouble, but there was a pressing question that she wanted answered. "How the hell are we going to get down?" Nami asked, sighing and flopping back with her captain.

"No clue. We'll figure it out." He replied.

"How the hell do we figure our way off a cloud in the middle of the sky?"

"We figured out how to get up here, so we can get down. You are a navigator; you can get us anywhere! I trust you!" Luffy chuckled good-naturedly, showing confidence in his crewmate.

"We had a giant beanstalk to ride up the first time!" She huffed, trying to think her way out of this one. "We have no beanstalk, no sails or rudder like a ship and you still expect me to get us down!?"

"Yep!" Luffy laughed louder. Nami glared at the rubber man, ticked off by his laid back nature for the millionth time, but then she noticed the waver behind him and an idea started to form. The navigator smiled, her grin stretching wide maliciously.

"Naaaammmiiii…" Luffy dragged out as he squatted beneath the waver's jet dial a few minutes later, tipping the scooter's back end into the sky and the front end down into the island cloud. "This might be crazier than the idea you came up with the beanstalk…"

"Well, you said that you trusted me to get us down so now you have too!" Nami grinned evilly, balancing carefully on the waver, her hands ready to rev the machine.

"Oh…okay…" Luffy still believed in his navigator…but he'd rather just take his chances jumping off the cloud and catching himself with Gum-Gum Balloon or something like that, but Nami said it was too dangerous for her…and her new plan was sounding just as reckless as his had been.

"We're going back down! Ready?" Nami asked, giving her captain a pointed look.

"Ready!" He replied, bracing his arms and legs for the impact of the powerful Jet Dial.

"I'm not going full throttle – no need to destroy ourselves when we hit the ground – but this is going to be risky!" Nami stated, gripping the controls.

"Do it, Nami!" Luffy smiled ready for the challenge.

"Okay!" The navigator revved the engine, gunning it as fast as she dared. The Jet Dial on the waver shot air out of its back, pushing the front end into the island cloud and straining at Luffy's hold. The rubber man held his stance and propped up the Dial so that they could drive the island cloud down to the ground as safely as possible. The cloud started moving, pushed by the wind of the Jet Dial and started to drift down, gaining speed as it was moved from its spot in the sky. "Its working, Luffy! Just hang on! I'm going a little faster!"

"Great!" He replied, and then shit hit the fan. Nami increased the power of the Jet Dial and the cloud unexpectedly shot down to the ground, faster than she was expecting, Nami screamed, cutting the engine as the two of them raced towards the Upper Yard at breakneck speed. Seeing the trouble, Luffy let go of the waver and jumped in front of Nami, wrapping his arms around her and the waver as the ground loomed behind them. "Gum-Gum….BALLOON!" Luffy took a deep breath and inflated himself just in time as the island cloud crashed into a building and disappeared in a poof. He acted as a buffer for Nami and stopped their momentum, bouncing only a few times after breaking through the roof before letting all his air out and skidding to a stop, Nami and the waver crushing him.

"Nami…please get off…" He whined, not feeling pain so much as compression. The navigator opened her eyes, finding herself safe on the ground and on top of her captain.

"Sorry!" She apologized and jumped off the waver, rolling the contraption off of his as well. Luffy sighed in relief as his chest as freed and sat up, looking around. "Well, that could've gone better."

"It worked out okay! Where are we?" He asked. And then he saw it…food! Wherever they were, there was food here! "Nami! Food! Look! Food!" Luffy leapt up and started stuffing his face with the fruits and meats that were stored in the building they'd crashed through. The woman looked at her surroundings, trying to come up with an explanation.

"It looks like a storehouse," She concluded. "This must be where the priests kept their food.

"'Whoo ares?" Luffy said, his mouth fuller than a chipmunks cheeks. "It's mine now!"

"Save some for the others!" Nami snapped baring her fangs. And then her stomach grumbled too, not having had anything to eat since that morning and she blushed in embarrassment. But Luffy wasn't paying attention, still stuffing his face and Nami figured that it wouldn't hurt to have a little snack and then they could get back to the ship.

Back in Shandora, the Strawhats were getting themselves put back together after their latest adventure, a lot of aches and pains accompanying their battles.

"So, did you have a chance to patch him up?" Zoro asked, as Chopper finished with Wyper and started bandaging up his wounds.

"Yes. All he needs now is rest." The doctor replied, tightening the swordsman's bandages. Ussop and Sanji had patched each other up after Chopper had taken a look at them and Robin was resting near then as well, looking worse for wear like the rest of them. They were still two people short, despite the fact that Luffy had kicked the shit out of Eneru and dislodged the golden bell from the sky. It was worrying, not being able to get any news on how they were doing or where they were. Zoro looked up at the sky, trying to see if he could see any sign of his captain and navigator, but all he could see was clouds. He sighed, dead tired. Luffy would come back to them with Nami in tow, he needed to believe that. Ussop and Sanji were talking quietly, worry about Luffy and Nami and Conis like they all were, but their conversation was interrupted by a loud, obnoxious yell.

"HEEEEEYYYYY!" A loud shout interrupted. The crew turned their heads towards whoever was yelling, their faces lighting up as Nami, Luffy and Conis ran towards them, the rubber man dragging the hugest bag behind him, his face full of meat. Ussop leapt up and cheered as their friends approached, and everyone had a big smile on their face.

"NAMI! CONIS!" Sanji shouted, hearts in his eyes.

"LUFFY!" Ussop finished, jumping up and down.

"We're back!"Conis shouted, starting to cry as she saw that all her friends were safe. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was worried that I wouldn't see any of you again!" Su the Cloud Fox chirped happily with her.

"Ahhhhh!~" Sanji twirled in elation as the beautiful woman worried over him. "She was worried!" He sang.

"Oh please." Ussop said skeptically, folding his arms and rolling his eyes at the cook.

"Zoro!" Luffy leapt at the swordsman, letting Zoro catch him as he glommed onto his neck. "Robin! Sanji! Chopper! Ussop! We're back!" He shouted, sticking a whole hunk of meat into his mouth.

"Very attractive." Zoro commented, grabbing Luffy's butt to keep him from sliding down. "But I'm glad you guys grabbed some food." He quirked a thumb at the nearly building high bag of grub, "Where's it from?"

"We found the priest's storehouse on our way back through the forest. And Conis too!"

"There was a lots more!" Luffy said through a mouth full of meat and Zoro wasn't surprised that he'd already eaten a chunk of the hoard.

"How'd you guys find your way back down?" Ussop asked. Luffy flashed the Victory sign.

"We drove a cloud down and then Gum-Gum Balloon!" Zoro saw that Conis was looking down over by the bag of food, surprised that her father wasn't with her.

"Conis, where's your old man?" Zoro asked, pushing Luffy's face out of the way.

"Wel…he…protected me." Conis' face furrowed up in sorrow as she remembered her father's sacrifice in the face of Heaven's Judgment, pushing her out of harm's way at the cost of his own life. "And Eneru…" She started, tears spilling down her face.

"Don't tell me…" Chopper whispered, his horrified face reflecting the faces of the crew. Conis' head dropped, confirming their fears.

"I'm sorry." Sanji said solemnly, speaking for the whole crew. They'd all grown attached to Conis and Pagaya, the father and daughter having helped them so many times on their journey that it was heartbreaking to find out that Pagaya had died.

"Yeah, me too." A chipper voice added.

"Me three." Luffy said quietly. And that's when everyone noticed that someone had joined them. They all snapped their heads around to find Pagaya standing behind them.

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!" They shouted, pointing at the man.

"Sorry, but I'm alive!" Pagaya held up his hands defensively. Conis' face lit up, the joy of seeing her father alive overwhelming her.

"Father!" She ran into his arms, crying in joy this time as Pagaya explained that he'd been pushed down into the White Sea instead of being killed by Eneru's lightning, and he'd been with the other Skypieans that had evacuated the area when Eneru was planning to wipe out the sky islands. They were coming back up, all the ships were headed to Upper Yard since they didn't have any other home to come back too. And all of that was reason for celebration, so they ate their hearts out until the huge bag of food was gone and the sun had started to sink far below them.

"Ah!" Ussop sighed, his belly full and looking as fat as Luffy's. "Boy! I stuffed myself!"

"Well, it's getting pretty late, you guys." Zoro noted, leaning back carefully on his bandaged arms.

"It's time to hit the ship!" Nami added. Ussop and Luffy snapped their heads around to glared at the navigator.

"Whoa…you're not talking about leaving, are you?" Luffy asked, his voice judgmental. Zoro just smiled, knowing exactly where this was going.

"Relax!"Nami replied. "All I meant was that it would be a nice change of pace to go back to the ship and sleep in a warm bed!" Ussop's and Luffy's eyes narrowed, their mouths frowning.

"Ussop, can you believe what she just said?" Luffy asked.

"Hardly! It's sick!" The sniper turned his long nose up at her. "I mean, the thought doesn't even cross her mind to go out and look for gold! And she calls herself a pirate!"

"You can't be serious!?" Nami retorted, staring back at the two idiots staring back at her.

"Hmmmmmm." They hummed, disappointed in the navigator. Nami growled at them.

"How would you like fat lips to go with your fat bellies!?" Shouted so loud that what was left of Giant Jack shook at her voice. They both turned their noses up at her and Nami retaliated by punching both of them in the face.

The rest of the crew just laughed at Luffy and Ussop rolled across the main thoroughfare of Shandora and crashed into each other before running into a building. Their joyful laughter carried over the forest and drew the returning Skypieans and Shandorians to them and when the two groups met at the ruins, the hard feelings and bloodshed between then dissolved into shouts of celebration as everyone survived through Eneru's tyranny together. That wasn't to say that problems wouldn't surface later, but for now, it was time to put those grudges behind them and revel in the majesty of the City of Gold and the fact that they were all still alive. And of course, the Strawhat crew was the life of the party, helping build a giant bonfire in the middle of the city and dancing the night away as the Skypieans and the Shandorians joined in on the festivities. The only really shocking thing that happened was when the giant snake made its appearance, scaring the shit out of everyone until the beast smiled in its snakey way and started dancing, continuing the party. Voices screamed in festive choruses, hands banged on drums of peace and celebration and laughter rose and fell like the tides, accompanied by the sparking a and whooshing of the giant fire lighting up the night. Dancing hand in hand, the Skypieans and the Shadorians celebrated their victory and a few brave souls scaled the Lord of the Sky and danced on her head as she roared with her new friends.

"We did it!" Luffy screamed, dancing around with Ussop and Chopper, Sanji was dancing with a Skypiean woman, Laki was laughing with the White Beret Captain, McKinley, Zoro was having a friendly drinking competition with Braham, Robin was sitting quietly with Kamakiri, Nami was jumping around with Old Lady Amazon, and Pagaya was having the time of his life making up a silly dance routine with another Shandorian man. To any onlooker, the party was pure chaos, but it lit up the night until dawn and continued on through the day until night fell, again and again and again for four days. There was nothing in the world that could've stopped the festivities, the light hearts and joyous shouts happy and loud until everyone ended up passing out on the fourth day out of pure exhaustion. And in the middle of it all, the tiny Strawhat crew huddled together in snores and tangles of limbs, the sole reason for throwing this world into chaos and bringing it back together again, thanks to one man and his crazy ideas, curled up next to his first mate and navigator contently.

"You still owe me sexy times." Luffy whispered to Zoro when he was sure the rest of the crew was asleep.

"I know." The swordsman replied without opening his eyes, pulling Luffy closer to him. "Sleep first, sex later." He said with a yawn.

"It's a promise." Luffy replied with his own yawn. They were out in two minutes flat but Luffy was the one to wake Zoro up three hours later, yanking the green-haired man to his feet and dragging him off towards the ship, unable to wait any longer for his promised night with his first mate. He just hoped that they didn't get lost on the way there.

What they didn't know was that two pairs of eyes watched them leave and both women said nothing as their captain and fellow swordsman disappeared into the trees.

Down to Earth

Okay, they had been expecting Cloud End to be and end of some sort, just not the end that they ended up with. The Merry was freefalling through the sky, the Milky Road they'd traveled on for all of two seconds, dropping off into nothingness. Conis and Pagaya were waving to them up on the shore of the White-White Sea, huge smiles on their faces as the Strawhats fell. Luffy and Zoro had woken up from their nap they'd been taking on the deck to say goodbye to Conis and her father and to get a last glimpse of the Sky Island, but they were thinking that they just shouldn't stayed asleep, that when they could've died peacefully. The whole crew had been lively, taking in the sails and readying the ship for the drop down the Milky Road that Conis and Pagaya had warned them about (well, they hadn't really said anything about a Milky Road, but it was just assumed that there was one) and then the South Bird they'd brought up to the Sky Islands made his appearance, pissed that they were going to leave him behind and then it was time to go down to the Blue Sea. And that's when it happened: the Merry had fallen off of the edge of the sky without so much as a warning, the vast drop down to the ground looming below them.

The whole crew was scared shitless, their bodies levitating off the deck and into the open air as Conis' shout about a freefall faded away. Silence. There wasn't any screaming or shouting or yelling or praying, just dead silence as the Merry started the long descent down to the Blue Sea the hard way. The whole crew was reached back for Cloud End, as if they could reach out and grab the ledge for safety, their eyes popping out of their heads in horror. Conis and Pagaya were still smiling at them from the short, their arms raised in farewell.

"Hesso!" Conis shouted with her huge smile, and then they dropped out of sight as the Merry fell at lightning speed. That's when the screaming started.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The whole crew lost their minds. They were going to fall all the way down to the Blue Sea and smash into the ocean at exponential speeds! The ship would crack and shatter and they'd all be dead! A shrill whistle broke the horrified screams of everyone on the Merry and something pink leapt out of the White Sea, latching onto the ship and expanding above her. It was a huge octopus!"

"OCTOPUS!" Ussop screamed as his eyes popped back into his head. Everyone regained their senses (and their eyes) and planted themselves on the deck. Zoro's hands were instantly on his swords, ready to cut up the monster that had their ship in its clutches.

"What the-?!" He shouted and then the ship came to a sudden and violent stop, throwing everyone down on the deck as the descent stopped. Unfortunently for Zoro, Luffy hand landed on top of him, his own fall combining with the swordsman's for double the ouch.

"Well, that hurt!" Nami exclaimed. Luffy sat up next, having a little cushion to his fall.

"What happened?" He asked, and then he looked down to see what was under him. It was Zoro and his face was screwed up in pain. And that's when Luffy noticed where he was sitting. "Oh, those your jewels?" He asked.

"G…get…o…off…m…me…" Zoro choked out, the unbearable pain of having his crotch slammed into at the speed they had been going by a solid body making it hard to even think straight let alone form a proper sentence. And Luffy did hop off of him, running to the side of the ship to see what the octopus was doing.

"Hey, guys!" He shouted, leaping up onto the railing. "Get a load of this!"

"What the hell is it?" Zoro asked, his hand pressed to his crotch to relieve some of pain.

"A balloon?" Chopper asked.

"Shi shi shi! Yeah! Ain't it great!?" Luffy laughed.

"We're not falling!" Nami shouted happily.

"Oh good!" Ussop sighed, wiping the scared tears off his face. "For a minute there I thought we were goners! All of us!"

As the crew settled down again they heard the unmistakable sound of the golden bell ringing far above them, having been pulled from the White-White Sea earlier that morning. The bell rang on an on, as if to wish the pirates safe travels and to thank them for saving Skypiea, and of course, if the crew could've heard the shouts of gratitude from the Upper Yard, that's exactly what the people were saying. The crew smiled, listening to the pure sound of the bell echoing from the dream land they were leaving behind. But it was okay. They could come back someday if they wanted.

"Shi shi shi! This is great!" Luffy called, his smile widening as the bell rang on and on.

"You're telling me! What a way to travel! I love it!" Ussop laughed too, leaning over the rail to look at the sea far below them. Despite being happy at the send off, Zoro growled and carefully scooted over to sit against the mast, tenderly moving so his aching crotch didn't flare up at him angrily.

"You okay, Zoro?" Luffy asked, walking over to the older man and reaching out to touch his crotch, concerned about the hurt he'd caused. Zoro's hand grabbed Luffy's wrist, catching his hand before he could do.

"Don't touch!" He snapped, still nursing his pain.

"Oh, come on! I'm just trying to help! I'm sorry!" Luffy apologized while still trying to see how bad it was and Zoro wasn't having any of that.

"Get away from me!" But Luffy tackled him and they started to roll across the deck and Zoro tried to get the rubber man off of him once again and Luffy just kept trying to pull his pants down to check on his groin. The rest of the crew watched the two imbeciles rolling around and Sanji blew out a puff of smoke before speaking.

"Well they got that much closer real fast, those idiots." He sighed, walking away before he got ran over by the pair. "But I guess that's what happens when you see someone naked in bed."

"They were naked in bed?!" Chopper shouted, mortified, and then he remembered that they'd taken baths together naked all the time, so he didn't get it anymore. "What's wrong with that, Sanji?"

"Nothing, it's just that…" Sanji motioned Chopper and Ussop in close and then whispered in their ears. What he told them was what had happened between Luffy and Zoro the night before in the simplest terms he could, which had both doctor and sniper falling to the deck in mortification at being privy to that information. When they hit the deck, Luffy and Zoro stopped rolling around, Zoro's foot planted in Luffy's stomach to ward him off as the rubber man reach for his hips, and they started at the pair joining them on the floor. They'd heard what was going on and Zoro was blushing as his private life was now completely out in the open, but Luffy just laughed amused by the whole situation and glad that everyone was on the same page now.

"Shi shi shi! This is fun!" Luffy chuckled.

"On, can it!" Zoro huffed, kicking the rubber man off of him and crossing his arms moodily.

"You're the one that should can it." Sanji called, riling up Zoro even more.

"What did you say!?" Zoro snapped, glaring at the cook. Luffy took his opportunity of distraction to jump the swordsman, careful not to land on his hips and tackled him to the ground again in a huge.

"Luffy! Get off of me! I'm still mad at you!"

"Never!" The raven smiled.

"Take that grin and shove it up your ass!"

"No, that's what you do!" Luffy shot back.

"Hey!" Zoro once again tried to pry his captain off of him, but it didn't work, Luffy had a tight grip on the swordsman and he wasn't letting go this time. Zoro just had to deal with it.

"That's our captain," Robin chuckled, as she watched from the sidelines. "Always making a ruckus." While the fall down to the ground again wasn't going to be a peaceful one, it was going to be fun nonetheless, as long as Luffy and the rest of the crew were around to make it interesting.

A/N: And there you go! Stay tuned for some more updates headed your way pretty quickly now! See you all later! :3


	17. Gone Fishing

A/N: ZareEraz here! I have the next chapter! Yay! G-8 is one of those arcs that let's you get into the head of the Navy and its really interesting because we're cheering for the bad guys when we watch One Piece! It's genius! So this arc is interesting in that (in my opinion) as much as we cheer for the Strawhats and want then to escape the base, I still have to respect the efforts of the Marines because technically they are the "good guys" and they have their job to do as well. It's quite fascinating. And with that, I'm done talking. Enjoy and don't forget to review! :3

Chapter 17: Gone Fishing

Nothing Short of a Miracle

And Luffy had landed himself in another fine mess.

The Merry had fallen out of the clouds after Skypiea and had gotten caught in a Marine base known as Navarone, a heavily armed base surrounded by cliffs with only one way out. But that hadn't bothered him in the least bit, not even when his crew got separated. He knew that they were smart and that they'd all find each other eventually, it would all work out! He'd even found Sanji, they got disguises and they'd been in the kitchen forever (and he'd been eating forever), and the cook had gotten very popular with the chefs and the soldiers alike! But in the guise of doing at least a little work (that might get him some more food) Luffy took an order that the pretty Head Chef Lady had handed him and ran over to wherever table eight was, pushing open the doors and walking inside without a care in the world. He waltzed right up to the man at the lone table and set the plate of meatballs and veggies down, a huge smile on his face. They guy looked important – he had his own table and all – but that didn't matter…as long as Luffy could steal some food!

"Eat up!" He said cheerfully.

"Thank you." The man with the mustache said. "You're dismissed." Even as an idiot, Luffy still figured out that this guy was really important and saluted like a good Marine would do.

"Right! Aye, aye sir!" Luffy walked backwards, all the way to the door but still didn't leave. The man at the table started eating, humming when he tasted the food.

"Outstanding!" He nodded. "It was everything the men said it was." Luffy hummed too, chewing on a meatball. "This has surpassed my expectations."

"Mine too." The rubber man added. The man at the table put his fork down and it hit the plate, half of his lunch gone already. He looked up, observing the young man in front of him, his cheeks looking like a chipmunks and raised an eyebrow at him. He looked down at his food again and went to get another meatball, but before he could, it was whisked off his plate unexpectedly. And so was the next one, and the next one, until he caught the hand that was stealing his food. His fork pinned the meat to the plate, and with it, Luffy's hand as it grabbed at the food (since he wouldn't let go). Luffy struggled to get his snack, but the fork was in the way!

"I just want a meatball, you selfish jerk!" He shouted, his mouth still full of food. The man, who Luffy was finally figuring out was the base commander, stood up and smiled, having finally sighted his prey.

"I see you've finally decided to show your face." Commander Jonathan said, noting Luffy's stretchy arm. The rubber man finally snagged the meatball hand hurtled it towards his mouth, nearly eating his own hand in the process as the force of the recoil sent him tumbling on his back. He sat up and chewed happily.

"Welcome, Strawhat Luffy. I am Commander Jonathan, Chief Officer of G-8 and your sworn enemy." The man walked up to his enemy and introduced himself. He folded his arms and loomed over the younger man, staring him down. Luffy just looked up and him and continued chewing. "Strawhat Luffy, I would rather not resort to violence in the dining hall, so please, be civil. Just answer me one question, if you would be so kind."

"If I answer it can I split that food with you?" Luffy asked in return. Commander Jonathan looked back at his plate, noting that Luffy had already eaten most of it anyway.

"If you answer the question, you can have all of it." He replied. Out of the corner of his eye, Jonathan saw a rubbery hand shoot past and grab the plate.

"Really? You've got a deal! I'm sorry I called you a jerk!" Luffy laughed.

"No matter how hard I try, I just can't figure out your purpose here." The commander continued as the pirate scarfed down his newly acquired food. "I am certain that Captain Smoker is the one who defeated Crocodile and your shenanigans in Alabasta resulted in no discernible fame – they acquired you no fame or fortune. Your motives remain a mystery and I want to know why you came to Navarone of all places."

"That's easy!" Luffy remarked, popping the last meatball in his mouth. "We fell from the sky! This is just where we landed!"

"Hm?!" Jonathan was actually surprised that this was all just coincidence.

"In the Grand Line it's just one crazy thing after another!" Luffy set the plate down and stood up. "I gotta say, I'm really starting to like this fortress! The food here is great!" Jonathan laughed, half out of amusement and half out of surprise. What a weird kid!

"You should know that even with the power of the Devil Fruit, one would find escape from our charming little fortress impossible, nothing short of a miracle. Checkmate."

"I'll leave when I'm good and ready, Mr. Commander." Luffy laughed good-naturedly in his enemy's face.

"I doubt you'll talk so tough when you hear that we've captured Zoro." Jonathan informed the pirate, smiling in satisfaction when Luffy's face dropped.

"Huh? Zoro?" Luffy tried to process that. He stood up all the way and leveled his gaze with Jonathan's. He remained calm in the face of knowing that Zoro was in trouble. "Alright, Fortress Guy," He stated seriously, "Where's Zoro?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Why do you think? So I can find him and rescue my boyfriend!" He shouted, getting mad now. Zoro needed his help and he was going to save him no matter what!

"Boyfriend?" Commander Jonathan said, curious as he mulled over Luffy's words. It didn't matter though, just another piece of information to file away for later. Right now, he had a bigger issue – he needed to capture Strawhat too. "Don't be hasty. You'll be joining the swordsman soon, I'll make sure of that." Jonathan took a step forward, and Luffy squared off against him before suddenly being grabbed by the collar and dragged backwards. It was Sanji!

"We've blown our cover! We'd better get out of here!" Sanji started yanking Luffy away but they found themselves surrounded by the cooks of Navarone, Head Chef Jessica included. Commander Jonathan slammed the doors to his private room open and now they were really in trouble. Out of options, surrounded and probably going to get captured, Luffy and Sanji stood back to back as both sides closed in on them. Until a miracle happened.

The next groups of soldiers coming to eat burst through the doors and flowed into the dining room, pushing the pirates along with them, cutting off the commander and the cooks completely as Luffy and Sanji ran for it.

"No! We almost had them!" Jessica shouted.

"Stawhat!' Commander Jonathan shouted.

"See you around, Fortress Guy!" Luffy called back, escaping into the hallway and running after Sanji. They were free and now they had to go free Zoro and get the hell out of here!

Hostage Situation

"I'm going to rip off your nose if you sent up in the wrong direction!" Zoro threatened, running ahead of Ussop, Luffy and Sanji, back inside the main base after having broken out of the hold.

"Don't worry! We're definitely going the right way!" Ussop assured him, wanting to keep his nose. "Just keep moving! Hurry! Yeah, yeah! I recognize that wall! Merry's docked just around that corner!"

 _Something's wrong…this is way too easy,_ Zoro thought, turning the corner.

"Everybody stay alert! No one's going to stop us from stealing our ship!" Luffy shouted, running faster and hopping in front of Zoro. The swordsman let him in front, grabbing his blades in anticipation of a fight. "GAAAAAHHHH!" Luffy skidded to a stop along with the rest of the boys, staring wide eyed at the hoard of Marines between them and their ship. There had to have been hundreds of them, all crowded onto the dock and up on the catwalks that the shipwrights used to get to the sails and masts. Gun trained on the four men, the Strawhats were in trouble.

"We're busted." Sanji said, taking a fighting stance.

"I knew it was an ambush." Zoro hissed, his grip tightening on the Wado Ichimonji.

"Sniper Team 7 to the front!" A Marine with a coat and odd triangle sideburns that could've been the top half of a beard shouted, clearly the one in charge. A group of men walked to the front of the soldier and knelt, leveling their rifles at the pirates. "Shooters, take aim!"

"No! Don't aim!" Ussop had started crying, scared out of his wits. Zoro and Sanji were both moving, ready to attack when Luffy decided to do something about the threat.

"Gum-Gum…" Luffy shouted.

"FIRE!" The Marine commander called.

"BALLOON!" Luffy expanded in a blink of an eye, shielding Ussop who had started falling back, and knocking both Zoro and Sanji to the side where they had started flanking him. And that hadn't sat well with either of them. After the bullets had ricocheted back towards the Marines the pair leapt to their feet and started yelling at their captain.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Luffy just laughed.

"Cannon Team 12 to the front!" Officer Sideburns ordered and another round of Marines with bazookas came to the front, knelt and aimed.

"Great. Bazookas." Zoro huffed.

"Fire!" Three bazookas shot their payload at the pirates, the projectiles flying into the ground at their feet, smoke drifting up but with no explosion to accompany it.

"Duds?" Luffy questioned, looking down. And then the explosion happened, sending a birght light and a cloud of gas into the air and blinding everyone who hadn't shut their eyes. Sanji coughed and covered his stinging eyes, trying to see, knowing that the Marines were going to attack in all the cover they'd just given themselves.

"Ah! My eyes! What is this!?" The cook groaned.

"The burning! Oh, the burning!" Luffy wailed, slapping his hands to his face.

"Those were flash bombs!" Ussop supplied, but in the smoke, Luffy couldn't figure out exactly where he was.

"Sword Unit, to the front! Attack!" The commander's voice rose over Luffy's wailing and the crew tensed as footsteps marched their way towards them. Sanji got hit first, dodging two slashes from different directions while still coughing and flipped on one hand, kicked down his attackers.

"Bastards!" The next attack came from behind but he was too slow to move! Suddenly, there was an explosion that hit that Marine and Sanji whirled to see Ussop with a heroic look on his face.

"No worries!" The sniper called.

"Nice equipment you got there," Sanji commented, noting that Ussop had flipped down his goggles before the flash bombs and saved his eyes some agony.

"You can borrow these!" Ussop threw his old goggles at the cook and Sanji caught them, slipping them on to protect his eyes.

"Thanks." On the other end of the battlefield, Zoro was doing just fine. He'd closed his eyes before being blinded and was now running through the smoke, relying on his other senses to lead him to his prey, swords up, arms crossed, he skipped through the haze and found his target.

"Dragon…Twister!" The swordsman slashed, sending up a swirling gust of wind and blades that threw his opponents into the air and out of commission. "Blinders don't work on me, unlike some love sick moron." Sanji heard his insult and growled viciously. And right in the thick of things in spite of his aching eyes, Luffy was holding his own.

"Gum-Gum…Gatling!" He pummeled a whole unit of swordsmen and sent them flying, readying his next attack as his arms shot in. "And…Whip!" He shouted, throwing his arm sideways and sweeping the smoke, and the Marines away…as well as Zoro and Sanji! "Shi shi shi! Now that was fun! Huh," the rubber man huffed as he looked around, his allies suddenly cut in half. "Where are the guys?"

"You whipped them along with every else!" Ussop shouted, pointing over to the pile of Marines and their crewmates.

"Sorry!" The young man called, happy to see that they were sitting up and still conscious.

"You! Think next time!" Sanji snapped, slipping Ussop's goggled down around his neck. "Alright, you dim witted moron!" He growled, turning on Zoro who was sitting next to him. "What'd you say to me!?" Zoro turned and growled at him.

"Exactly what you think I said!" The pair leapt up and started fighting each other instead of the enemy, just like they always did.

"Have you forgotten that there's still any army here!?" Ussop snapped. Luffy just laughed. Distracted by each other, the Strawhat men didn't see the next attack coming.

"Fire!" Officer Sideburns shouted, alerting the crew to the attack, but too late. A Marine fired at Luffy even as their heads turned and the rubber man was suddenly caught and thrown to the ground, tangled in a net and rolled until he hit the wall. The sound of his surprised shout caused Zoro and Sanji to look over, their fight ending as they noticed their friend trapped in the net. Luffy was all balled up and struggling to get free but he was having issues doing anything about his predicament.

"Luffy!" Ussop called, starting to rush over to his friend.

"Stay right where you are!" Officer Sideburns commanded. "It says 'Dead or Alive' on your wanted posters; here at G-8 we tend to lean towards 'Alive.' However, if you insist on meeting us with further resistance, I'll be forced to amend that policy."

"Luffy, you've got to try harder!" Ussop said, trying to get his friend to break out faster. It shouldn't be that hard! "We're in real trouble here!" Luffy continued to struggle, but then he felt all the strength he had disappeared and he was really tired all of a sudden.

"I'm trying! But it's no use; it won't budge and I'm all worn out." He said lazily.

"Sea Prism Stone…?" Zoro deduced, recognizing the symptoms.

"Precisely." Sideburns was talking again. "A specially designed prison net bomb. So Strawhat, what do you think?" Now they were in deep shit.

"Not good…" Ussop was trembling again and stepped back by Luffy. The Marines took a step forward in formation, leveling their guns at the pirates at a much closer range.

"Look at this," Sanji huffed. "There's a sea of them left even after all of the ones we took out." It was disappointing. There were only four of them and the Marines had hundreds of men for back up – it just wasn't fair sometimes.

"Now make this easy and give up." Officer Sideburns continued. "Escaping from here alive is impossible. Positions!" The Marines stepped closer, ready to fire.

"Damn…we've got no choice." Zoro growled. With Luffy out of commission and basically helpless, his first priority was protecting his ass and the rest of the crew, and if that meant surrendering – no matter how much he hated the idea – then so be it. As long as they were alive and had a chance to escape, he'd take it. Escape really was impossible this time. And it was impossible…until a surprise burst out of the corridor behind the pirates. Two screaming women careening into Ussop with a rolling stretcher, sending him flying and startling everyone else in the room as they came to a noisy stop. Ussop landed on the floor heavily, unconscious and wounded.

It was Nami and Chopper and some other woman. Sanji saw Nami in her pink nurse's dress and nearly went ballistic and Zoro just stared at the group, utterly surprised by their entrance.

"What the hell!?" The woman gasped, seeing all the Marines and the rest of the crew. Chopper, seeing Ussop broken on the floor from under the sheet he'd been hiding in suddenly grew huge and leapt off the cart to cradle his injured friend.

"Ussop! Look what they've done to him! He's injured!" The huge human-reindeer said, shocked and mortified. "He could die! It's all because of those soldiers!" His shouts of surprise morphed into anger, completely missing the fact that it was him and Nami and that other woman who'd hurt Ussop.

"Slow down, Chopper!" Zoro and Sanji whispered as he jumped to conclusions. But the Marines were just as shocked by the appearance of three more people that they forgot to attack.

"Identify yourselves!" Officer Sideburns shouted, needing to confirm whether or not the newcomers were pirates or not. Nami didn't know what to do and drew a blank, but the woman she was with – Dr. Kobato – knew exactly what she needed to do to help her friends. She took a deep breath and let out an ear-splitting screaming, incapacitating everyone within ear shot as he voice reached an inhuman pitch.

"What's the matter with you!?" Nami howled as the scream ended, but Dr. Kobato was shouting again.

"We've been taken hostage! We're gonna die! Please, save us! It wasn't our fault!" She screamed, turning her head to wink at her new friend. "We were forced here against our will!"

"Kobato?"Chopper raised an eyebrow at his fellow doctor. Nami understood and started screaming with her, confusing the hell out of everyone else.

"AHHHHH! This giant is one of the pirates!" And then they were both screaming again.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Chopper tried to calm the women down.

"Did I miss something?" Sanji asked, still confused. "Uh, who's that other girl?"

"How should I know?" Zoro replied. The screaming and yelling was only interrupted when the crew heard one of the Marines talking to his commander.

"We can't afford to go in blasting, not with the hostages there."

"Curse those cowardly vermin! This is precisely why I hate pirates!" Officer Sideburns hissed.

"Sir! This means that that giant is the unidentified doctor! Look! He's carrying his crewmate!" Another soldier realized. Chopper had put Ussop on his shoulder to safeguard him, and now it was coming in handy. Thinking quickly, the doctor whirled around and used his sheet like a cape, throwing it around himself to be menacing.

"That's right! I'm a rough and tough member of the Strawhats!" He howled. "Even crying babies shut their traps when they get a load of me!" Having never seen Chopper like this before, Zoro was very impressed as the reindeer bluffed his way through his mean act, clapping smugly. "Better do what I say or these hostages are DOOOOMED!" On cue, Dr. Kobato and Nami started screaming and wailing again. "Alright! Order your buffoons to stand down and let us board our ship!"

"Now I get it!" Zoro whispered with a huge smile on his face. Chopper and Nami had just given then their ticket out of here.

"Interesting." Sanji added, also impressed by how horrible and bad Chopper was acting.

"Do it!" The reindeer's voice got deeper and more ferocious. "Double time or I'll snap these girl's necks like twigs and their blood will be on your hands!" And that's when Zoro started hamming it up as well, trying to force the point home to the Marines and seal the deal.

"I'd do as he says, guys." He said, hooking a thumb behind him towards Chopper. "He's serious. If you haven't seen the neck-snap thing it's pretty messy." The commander started to growl, completely trapped by the situation at hand, his frustration getting the better of him.

"And how would it look if you, the righteous arm of justice, let two women die?" Sanji sneered.

"Chopper, what are you doing?" Luffy lolled, not getting the plan at all. "That's not helping."

"Shut it, you idiot!" Nami hissed before her captain's big mouth could derail the whole plan. But the Marine officer hadn't said anything yet, but he was close to breaking, they could tell. Chopper growled, as if to get ready to really snap some necks.

"He's gonna kill us!" Dr. Kobato screamed.

"Do what he says! I can't die before I'm married!" Nami screamed as well.

"Um…Commander?" A Marine asked as his superior officer almost lost his shit, worried for the hostages.

"Fine! You win!" Officer Sideburns shouted. "Lower your weapons and withdraw. Stand down now!" The Marines looked at their commander, shocked at his decision – but the lives of the hostages too high of the price to pay for destroying the pirates. "I said withdraw!"

"Please…sir!"

"We can't risk it!" Officer Sideburns shot back. They stepped back and their weapons came down.

"Wow, they actually complied." Sanji said.

"Let's hope so." Zoro replied, still wary of their position right now. He walked over to Luffy crumpled into a ball by the wall, trying to tiredly shift in the Sea Prism Stone net. He drew the Wado Ichimonji and brought it down across the net, hovering it mere inches above Luffy. The net split, freeing the rubber man.

"Thanks, Zoro." Luffy grumbled, his limbs sprawling out limply after the net fell away. "I owe you one."

"Yeah, you do." He sighed, reaching down to grab Luffy's wrist and pull it over his shoulder, getting the captain onto his feet, even if he was about to fall over. Due to Luffy's short height, Zoro had to lean over partially and he would've just scooped the man up had he probably not needed his hands. Luffy would forgive him if the swordsman let him sink to his knees if he needed to grab his swords, but he probably would get mad if Zoro outright dropped him on his ass, so Zoro just wrapped his free arm around Luffy's waist and held him up. They walked up to the front of the group as the Marines shuffled around creating a path to the Merry with their commanding officer in the front.

"We have complied with your demands!" The officer shouted. "Now release the hostages!"

"It worked! We did it!" Nami whispered happily, still standing next to Dr. Kobato. When nothing else happened, she put on a scowl and elbowed Chopper discretely, prompting him to keep talking. "Chopper…! Speak…!"

"Listen!" Chopper roared, getting back into his bad guy role. "You don't give the orders here! These women will be released only after we escape!"

"You spineless-" The officer with the weird sideburns hissed, but he stopped to whisper something to the man behind him, something that Zoro couldn't make out. It was unsettling. Something was wrong. This was too easy. Then the officer was shouting again. "We won't try to stop you! You're free to go!"

"Very accomdating…but is it true?" Zoro asked. Despite his suspicions, the swordsman was smiling at how well their slapdash plan was working so far, and then Luffy's arm across his shoulders started to stretch, pulling on his grip as the rubber man started to sink to the floor, still groggy and out of energy. "Hey! Would you hold it together?!" Zoro whispered, half worried and half agitated that Luffy's lethargy could mess things up if they had to move quickly.

The Strawhats started moving forward with Luffy and Zoro in the front, the "hostages" Dr. Kobato and Nami in the middle and flanked by Chopper carrying Ussop and Sanji watching their backs. As they strolled into the sea of Marines untouched, Zoro smirked at Officer Sideburns and got a furious glare in return. With the atmosphere this tense, the swordsman kept his eye on the crowd, looking for movement of any sort, wary that the Marines would try to pull something. It looked like they were: two men were moving through the crowd, following the crew on either side. Zoro's eyes followed them and he whispered to his crewmates.

"Nami...Chopper…Lover Boy…" He breathed, the first two paying attention and the last one glaring at him. "Run to the ship on my signal." Zoro ordered quietly, coming up with a plan since their captain was out of commission for the moment (not that Luffy could plan anyway). "Luffy, I need your help to get us out of this. You've got to stretch your arms and get everyone onboard."

"O-okay." He groaned. Luffy was not looking good still, all droopy and listless, his feet stumbling every few steps. While getting him on the ship might not be the solution to all of their problems, at least Zoro could defend the smaller area with the rest of the crew until Luffy was back to his old self, unlike right now as they were walking through the huge dock surrounded by their enemies.

"I get it." Sanji whispered back, seeing the two men moving on either side of them as well. Zoro's eyes narrowed keeping his gaze on one side while Sanji took the other, staring down the threat to their crew, ship and captain. If this didn't work, they were all dead.

Then tension snapped when a grunt dropped his rifle, startling Zoro and Sanji out of their focus as their heads snapped around to see the culprit.

"Whoops! How clumsy of me!" The man said, reaching down to pick up his gun.

"Pay attention! You scared us half to death!" Nami said, her voice trembling. Dr. Kobato was just as jumpy so she didn't look out of place getting mad at the Marine because her life was theoretically in danger as she played the part of a hostage and any disturbance could mean the end of that theoretical life. While the crew was distracted, a single Marine snuck up behind Dr. Kobato and snagged her, dragging her back behind the wall of Marines to safety as she screamed into his hand, alerting the crew to what was going on. They were trying to save the hostages and turn on them! Nami whirled first, seeing a Marie trying to grab her two and screamed, punching him in the face.

"STUPID GIRL! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Officer Sideburns shouted, as Nami ruined his plan.

"Crap! Nami!" Sanji exclaimed.

"Run to the ship!"Zoro ordered, and for once, no one complained and just ran. "You're on, Captain." Zoro turned to Luffy and hoisted his body up into a straighter position.

"Fall in, men! Bring me those pirates!" Officer Sideburns ordered.

"Come on! This is it!" Zoro encouraged Luffy harshly as the rubber man tiredly lifted his free arm to do as he was told. The Marines all had their weapons out, ready to capture and kill them at any second. The swordsman's heart was beating rapidly as they started to run out of time but he was trusting his captain to get the job done and Luffy was not one to disappoint. He stretched his arm backwards as fast as he could and Zoro just had to smile, knowing that his lover wouldn't let them down. The Marines started descending…and so did the Merry! Freed from the dock by some miracle, the Merry started to tip backwards towards the lake, surprising everyone. And that seemed to be the boost that Luffy needed, seeing the Merry free putting a smile on his face.

"Alright! All aboard!" He whipped his arm forward, catching the rest of his crew in the back and drove them onto the ship haphazardly before grabbing onto the rail as it started to recoil.

"Are they still alive?" Zoro asked, as the screams faded. Luffy tightened his arm around Zoro's neck, having perfect access to it by the way the green-haired man was holding him and grinning almost evilly.

"Good question! Let's find out!" He snickered. And that's when Zoro figured out what he was doing and his face dropped in horror as their feet left the ground at breakneck speeds. Zoro screamed as Luffy shot them towards the Merry, pulling his arm in so fast that the rubber man didn't have time to aim properly and crashed their heads into the outside of the ship, their momentum flipped them over and onto the deck despite their brain damage. The Merry slid into the water, sending up waves and soaking the whole crew. Luffy managed to crawl up the rail and hang onto his hat, laughing at the stupid Marines behind them.

"DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" Officer Sideburns shouted. "ALL UNITS OPEN FIRE!"

"Sir, they're still holding a hostage!" A soldier called and Luffy laughed again as the Marines backed down a bit.

"WARNING SHOTS!"

"It worked! We did it!" Luffy laughed as bullets rained down into the waters next to the ship. And then he got a nasty surprise. Nami whipped his sideways when her Climatact crashed into his jaw and Sanji smashed his heel down onto him and pinned his squished face to the railing.

"You'll have to forgive me, Captain, but my gratitude is lacking now." Sanji hissed.

"Give a girl some warning next time!" Nami growled, pissed as well. And then she smartly turned heel and walked away, giving orders like a captain herself, getting the ship underway for escape. Sanji let Luffy bonelessly sink to the floor right next to Zoro, nursing two new injuries along with his aching head. Zoro took the opportunity to lightly punch him in the head too, mad but not surprised at how roughly Luffy handled them.

"Owwww…" Luffy groaned at all three of them.

"That's the understatement of the year." Zoro grumbled, standing up and rubbing his throbbing head from where Luffy had cracked it. "But you did a good job." He said, acknowledging Luffy's efforts even when sedated by the Sea Prism Stone.

"Yay! Zoro's happy with me!" Luffy cheered, jumping up and leaping on Zoro with all his usual energy again and planting a wet kiss on his lips.

"I'm not happy with you! And don't kiss me in front of the Marines!" Zoro pried the younger man off of him and set to work following Nami's orders because they weren't out of the woods yet.

"That…" Sergeant Sideburns said to Lieutenant Commander Drake, "Is not something you see every day."

"What: pirates escaping or two of them kissing each other!? Because I don't care which it is! I WANT THEM CAUPTURED!" Drake roared.

"Yes, sir!" The Chief Petty Officer saluted and started to get to work as the Merry sailed off into the lake, free once again.

The Great Escape

They were really cornered this time…and it was getting annoying.

The ship was stuck near the Sea Gate, all the water having flowed out at low tide that morning and leaving them stranded and run aground. There was a huge hole in the bottom of the ship and Luffy had fallen overboard, but he hadn't drowned since there wasn't any water to drown in. However, when Chopper, Ussop, Sanji and Zoro stuck there heads out of the hole in the Merry's hull, he wasn't very happy that they were going to let him drown, so instead of following them back up on deck to discuss the deep shit they were in, he instead pouted in a puddle because of their insensitivity.

"On the bright side, we don't have to worry about the ship sinking until the next high tide," Robin noted, standing on the back deck with Nami. The lights of Navarone were behind them, lighting up the night.

"That's true, but we can't escape either." The navigator replied. And then Commander Jonathan interrupted their conversation as his men trained the search lights on the Going Merry, the countless cannons of the base leveling their barrels at the crew as well. Luffy snapped out of his pout and stood up as the Old Fortress Guy gave him an ultimatum through the speaker system of the base: they had nowhere to run and they were surrounded, so it was to give up. He also said that he'd have to turn him and Zoro over to Navy Headquarters because they had bounties on their heads, but that the rest of his crew could go free…if he cooperated. As good of a deal as that sounded to everyone except Zoro and Luffy in this situation, the captain of the Strawhats wasn't going to give up, that's just the way he rolled. He may not be super smart, his crew was and they'd figure a way out of this mess, just like they always did. And that's how the crew started their meeting, sitting on the Merry's main deck.

"Hey guys!" Ussop shouted happily. "I think I have the solution to our problems and its right in my hand!" The sniper held up a flat, pink, swirled shell for all to see. "Ta da! This Impact Dial! While escaping from the fortress, I kept using it to absorb impacts when those troopers tried to stop us. There's so many inside that I bet you we could blast the Merry out of here!"

"Oh!" Chopper said, sitting on Ussop's left.

"Super!" Nami interjected, sitting on Chopper's left. "And if it could just get us over the cliff, we could reach open water!"

"Yeah, but out of the frying pan and into the fire," Sanji interrupted, sitting on her left. "With that big hole, we'd sink right away."

"What if we could make that octopus balloon fly again?" Robin suggested on Sanji's left, referring to the creature that had floated them most of the way down from Skypiea.

"Hey, that's a good idea." Zoro agreed, sitting on her left.

"Yeah! We could use the Flame and Breath Dials to re-inflate it!" Nami reasoned, things finally looking up for them.

"It would have more hot air than Luffy!" Chopper joked. The whole crew laughed as their captain finally jumped on board, poking his head in between Zoro and Ussop as their laughter faded away on a sour note.

"Too bad we lost it." Ussop said grumpily.

"Uh huh." Chopper agreed.

"I'll say!" Nami's eyes started tearing up as she spoke, all her dreams of gold vanishing in the face of capture.

"Where'd it go?" Sanji grumbled.

"The octopus?" Robin clarified for herself.

"Yeah." Zoro muttered angrily, pissed that even with a plan, they were missing the most vital piece of it.

"I have it." Luffy answered.

"Luffy has it." Ussop said.

"He does?" Chopper asked.

"That's what he said." Nami answered.

"Who has it?" Sanji asked.

"Luffy." Robin replied.

"He does." Zoro added. There was a pregnant paused.

"Yep! Sure do!" Luffy finished up.

"WHAT?!" The crew leapt to their feet in shock as their captain being useful for something besides pummeling their enemies for once. "WHERE?!" The rubber man stood up shoved his hands down his pants (it's not as sexy as it sounds), rummaging around in there for something that was hopefully the octopus, since he clearly didn't have pockets on his person. Thankfully, he did pull out the pink, purple-spotted octopus instead of something else.

"Right here!" He proudly displayed the creature for all to see. Ussop made a shocked face and Zoro made a disgusted one.

"DO YOU MIND TELLING US WHY THAT THING IS IN YOUR PANTS!?" Nami shouted, completely grossed out by the display.

"He helped us out when we fell out of the sky, so I wanted to keep him safe!" Luffy answered honestly. And honestly, the octopus hadn't minded being in his pants from what Luffy could tell.

"Wasn't that gross?" Zoro asked, a little leery of Luffy's pants now.

"For him or the octopus?" Sanji asked.

"Gross how?" Luffy asked. Robin laughed at the funny man.

"Have fun in there next time, Moss-head." Sanji teased. Zoro growled at the cook and was about to punch him in the face when Robin spoke up again.

"Now that he's back in the fresh air, we should inflate the octopus again." She suggested. "Right, Long-Nose?" She looked at Ussop.

"Sure." And then he made another face, another problem popping up after they'd just solved one. "Now, if only I could find my Flame Dial. Somehow, it's gone missing." A purplish shell was pushed into his face and Luffy pressed the button on the apex of the shell, causing flames to shoot out of it and singe the sniper's hair.

"I was playing with it in the kitchen." He admitted. "It's spiffy!"

"Stop it!" Ussop ducked, before the flames could do more damage and placed the Impact Dial on Luffy's exposed stomach. "Or I'll give you a taste of this Impact Dial! Speaking of which…who's going to fire it?" He looked at his crew. Everyone's faces had gone dark except Chopper's, eyes glinting evilly and without mercy, smug laughter on their lips. They all knew the risks of firing the Impact Dial and they decided that none of them were going to use it, all silently, of course.

"Guys…what gives?" Ussop asked in trepidation.

"Who does the Impact Dial belong to?" Luffy asked, his voice sending shivers crawling up Ussop's spine.

"It's Ussop's." Zoro answered.

"Right, Long-Nose?" Robin asked.

"Then its only fair that we let the owner do it." Sanji reasoned.

"You're the best, Ussop." Nami said, her voice smooth and low.

"Good luck, Ussop!" Chopper added.

"Hey…" Zoro started, his voice deepening even more. "Don't worry, old buddy. We'll give you a hand."

"It's decided them!" Luffy affirmed, and everyone knew that when Luffy had decided something, there was no turning back.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Ussop finished up, knowing that he was royally screwed.

"Everything's set up here!" Chopper called down to Nami and Robin about five minutes later after he'd furled the sails. The girls were down on the deck by the open trap door with the octopus and Nami called back a, "Roger!" before kneeling down and yelling down below decks.

"Everything's ready! It's all up to you guys now!" She shouted. The four boys downstairs heard her loud and clear. Ussop had the Impact Dial strapped to his hands, holding out of the hole in the Merry's hull…but _he_ technically wasn't holding it out…Zoro and Sanji were _forcing_ him to. The sniper had the cook on his right arm and shoulder, the swordsman on his left and the captain was holding under his armpits so he couldn't run away…and Ussop wanted to run away so badly! The young man started struggling, trying to get Luffy to let him go and to tear his wrist out of Sanji's and Zoro's monster grips, but all of them were just too strong for him.

"No! I don't want to do it!" He wailed, tears falling from his eyes as the coward was forced to face his new job. "Using this thing is going to hurt like crazy!" The monster trio didn't care and held him still after a few moments of wriggling. Sanji and Zoro both shoved their free hands on his head, immobilizing him as they started the countdown.

"Three!" Sanji called.

"Two!" Zoro answered.

"One!" Luffy finished and Ussop pushed the Dial despite his feeling of impending doom.

"And liftoff!" Everyone except Ussop shouted as the Dial started releasing all its pent up energy. The Merry rock on the ocean floor and then started moving forward, hitting a few rocks and leaping into the sky as the force of the Dial sent her flying. And she wasn't the only thing that was sent flying! Ussop, Zoro, Luffy and Sanji were thrown backwards by the force of the impact at exponential speeds – Ussop falling into Sanji falling into Zoro all sandwiching Luffy into the wall. Good thing he was made of rubber, otherwise, Luffy would've been a bunch of broken bones underneath his crew. But the Merry was flying, and that's all that mattered…until she was falling again, back into the sea that was going to sink her before they'd even gotten out of the base. Luffy was the first on to see it, having stood up with just a few scratches after the impact and looking out of the hole that was nearing the sea again.

"I don't know how to put this…but…" He started, but Chopper's yells from the crow's nest interrupted him.

"Robin! Hurry! Now!" The small reindeer shrieked.

"Well, let's do it!" Nami turned to her partner and smiled. Robin crossed her arms and activated her Devil Fruit powers, hands sprouting from the bottom of the ship until they'd wrapped all the way around for each end hand on each line of arms to grab a tentacle of the octopus, pulling him taut so that they could inflate him. Nami held up her Breath Dial and pressed the apex of the shell, starting to inflate the creature with the stored wind, but as he grew, he only slowed the ship from falling and was barely keeping them above water as they floated. Robin let go of the octopus when he had a hold on the ship and held up a Breath Dial as well, doubling their wind, but it didn't do much.

"We're still falling!" Luffy said, poking his head out of the trap door.

"Luffy! The Flame Dial!" Nami said back, knowing that the heat from the Dial would increase their chances of success.

"Gotcha!" Luffy nodded, leaping out of the floor and holding up his Dial. "Inflate!" And the octopus did just that, doubling his size, but he was designed to only slowly float things down from the sky, not pull them into it. They were sunk unless they got more lift…and that came in the form of Ussop's Impact Dial.

"Come on, Ussop." Zoro groaned, hauling his and the sniper's aching bodies up from the floor, envying Luffy's quickly recovery and rubber bones as he forced himself upright. Ussop was still crying, but out of pain this time. His whole arm felt like it was going to fall off.

"No, please…! Not that! Anything but that!" Sanji stood up with them and grabbed Ussop's other arm, not happy about having to use the Impact Dial again.

"Tell you what: you do this and I'll make you something special for dinner sometime, 'kay?" The cook offered, half bribing and half rewarding their efforts.

"But I won't be allowed to eat it!" The sniper wailed, sure that he was going to die if he used the Dial again.

"Aw crap!" Zoro shouted, taking a staggering step forward towards the hole that was slowly starting to fill with water.

"Water's flowing in!" Sanji added, just as panicked.

"Everyone up there is doing their best to inflate the balloon," Zoro took a another staggering step. "And they need a little push. They're counting on us. If you don't do this, we're sunk."

"AAAAOOOWWWW! Fine!" Ussop finally agreed, faced with death yet again in his heroic adventures. "I guess Ussop will take on for the team!" He said with fake bravado, and then his face crumbled and his voice got all quiet and shaky. "Support my shoulders and arms again, okay?"

"You got it."

"Atta boy." Sanji and Zoro replied with a smile, happy that their coward had manned up, taking their previous positions minus Luffy.

"I've just got to think of the Going Merry's pain as my pain!" Ussop coached himself, his arm trembling as he held it out again, Zoro's and Sanji's hands holding it in place and bracing his shoulders. If anyone had seeing the duo's banged up faces and sick, determined smiled, they would've thought the two of them were insane. Perhaps they all were.

"Three!" Sanji started the countdown again.

"Two!" Zoro called.

"One!" Ussop finished, activating the Dial again.

"Fly!" Robin shouted.

"Please, fly!" Nami screamed.

"Come on!" Chopper pleaded.

"Yeah! Fly!" Luffy yelled as the balloon doubled its size yet again, as if he wanted to help just as much as they did.

"IMPACT!" Came the three screamed from downstairs and suddenly the Merry was careening through the sky, the force of the Dial enough to send her flying with her re-inflated balloon, sending up huge waves of water around them as they lifted off.

"YEAH! WE DID IT!" Luffy yelled, poking his head out from behind one of the octopus' legs and making faces at the Marine's they passed on their way over the cliffs. A cannon was leveled at the ship from the inside of the rock face as they neared the edge of the base, which would've caused the Strawhats some trouble, but instead of firing, the cannon was attacked by someone else and the projectile hit the cliff face, causing a small avalanche. The avalanche sent rocks falling and it destroyed the cannon and any chance it had of stopping the pirates. It was a lucky break!

The Going Merry flew up above Navarone just as the sun was starting to rise in the east, the celestial body bathing the ship in its gentle light as it woke up the rest of the world. The Strawhats however, had been up all night, all day and all night again while in the base, but even as exhausted as they were, the whole crew stood on the front decks together to see the open sea as if for the first time. They were free again! Luffy laughed, glad to be out of that base, no matter how fun it had been and Chopper joined him as Zoro stood quietly behind both of them. Sanji was sitting against the rail on the other side of the Merry's figurehead by Robin, Ussop and Nami leaning over the side by each other. It was one of those peaceful moments that you could only appreciate once (because how many times were they going to fly out of a Marine base, really?!) and appreciate it they did.

"I wish I could've seen the looks on those Marine's faces as we flew by," Luffy sighed. "I bet they were funny."

"I'll be happy to never see their faces again!"Nami snorted, but Luffy had moved on.

"Whoa!" The man called, his eyes growing large as he looked behind him. "Look at the size of that place!" He pointed back towards G-8, marveling at the huge scale of the island below them.

"I thought it looked big on the inside!" Chopper gaped.

"Well! So long, Old Fortress Guy!" Luffy shouted, waving at the Marine base.

"Adieu, Jessica!" Sanji yelled, saying his goodbyes' to the Head Chef of Navarone.

"Uh, guys..not to complain or anything, but why aren't they shooting at us?" Ussop asked.

"That base was designed to repel an attack by sea," Robin explained, "It's cannons can't target this high."

"Oh, well that's fabulous." Ussop said with a smile, glad to be rid of the base once and for all. The crew dispersed across the ship after that, Zoro sitting against the mast for a nap with Luffy on his lap, Sanji and Chopper on the portside rail looking out over the sea

"This sure is nice!" Chopper sighed happily as he sat on the rail. "I wonder how far we'll fly."

"Well, Zoro?" Luffy asked, looking up at the swordsman's face.

"Who knows? Ask the balloon." He replied, content.

"Why'd you ask him in the first place?" Nami huffed, miffed that Luffy had passed over his own navigator to as that dumbass. "He's constantly lost, has no sense of direction and can't navigate worth a damn."

"Hey!" Zoro got ready to smack a bitch, but he was weighed down by Luffy leaning back onto him and yawning. Zoro didn't want to move at that point and disturb his boyfriend, kind of like when a cat sits on its owner and they don't want it to leave.

"We should sit back and enjoy the ride," Robin suggested, cutting the fight off before it could start. "Just leave it to fate."

"I just hope it's not another Marine base!" Nami replied.

"I'll go anywhere if Nami and Robin are there!" Sanji added, his eyes turning into hearts as she glanced over at the beautiful ladies. "I'm in paradise!"

"Moron!" Zoro shot off.

"What's that!?" Sanji hissed, whirling on the green-haired man.

"You heard me. Bring it on." The swordsman goaded, only he was in the same position as with Nami, not wanting to move with Luffy starting to fall asleep on him as the crew fell back into their usual ways. So he just kept throwing insults instead.

"While you guys beat each other up, I'll patch the hole." Ussop sighed as Zoro and Sanji got into the swing of their argument.

"Hey…" Luffy said, half asleep. His groggy words halted the fight between his cook and boyfriend. "I never got any dinner…Sanji…food…" And then he was asleep, his body falling limp in Zoro's lap.

"You can eat when you wake up, idiot." Sanji replied, smiling and lighting a cigarette.

"And me too, right?" Zoro pointed to his face.

"You can just starve!"

"Sh," Robin held up a finger to her lips, her voice dropping low. "The captain's sleeping." And to no one's great surprise, so was Zoro, snoring away with his lover like they didn't have a care in the world. The most of the remaining crew decided that a nap was indeed a good idea, following the lead of captain and first mate. Nami went to her and Robin's room to sleep and Chopper decided that he wasn't moving any further than Luffy's open lap and plopped down there, only to have the rubber man's arms wrap around him subconsciously. He snuggled into Luffy's torso and fell instantly asleep. Sanji chuckled at the duo (leaving out Zoro) and went to take a nap in his hammock below decks, asking Robin if she wanted to sleep instead – he could take watch if she did. The archeologist smiled.

"I want to watch the sun rise for a little while, so you go ahead." The woman replied. "I'll help Ussop with the ship if he needs it." Sanji nodded and headed below decks and Ussop used his grapping belt to haul wood and nails over the side of the ship to patch up the hole. Robin spotted him from up on deck, watching the sunrise quietly as the peace of the morning was only interrupted by the sound of a hammer.

A/N: And there you go! Don't forget to let me know what you think! See you all later! ;3


	18. All's Fair in Love and War

Chapter 18: All's Fair in Love and War

Luffy was lying on the ground of Long Ring Long Land, all beat up and patched up by Chopper's expert hooves. After his fight with Foxy, the rubber man had needed to be carried off the Sexy Foxy, afro and all, and Chopper had started working on bandaging his head and torso where Foxy had punched him with those spiked gloves. Luffy looked worse for wear but he was going to be fine, but it still made the his crew worry about him.

"You little show off! Who do you think you are?" Ussop half-teased half-berated the rubber man as he lay unconscious, poking his slack face as he knelt next to him. He was still wearing Luffy's hat on top of his goggles and bandana, having held onto it for the captain until he woke up. "Take this! And this!"

"Stop that!" Chopper ordered, shocked at Ussop's behavior. "He's really hurt! You'll poke him to death!" He and Robin were still wearing their Foxy masks, having neglected taking them off after the fight (or from Robin's deduction – not allowed to take off until they were picked for Luffy's crew again).

"Yeah, Afro Power my ass." Nami sighed, sitting next to Sanji and watching over Luffy as well. "That was a close call if I've ever seen one."

"Whoa, hey." Sanji interjected. "Let's not disrespect the afro here." Zoro and Robin watched the whole group quietly, Zoro's eyes only on Luffy as they waited for him to wake up. The young man looked pretty bad, covered in cuts and scratches, some of his skin singed from explosions and Foxy's tricks. He hadn't looked like this since Skypiea and it was a awful that he hadn't been able to do anything to help his captain – none of them had. But, as if sensing the worry around him, Luffy's feet and hands twitched, a soft groan slipping out of his throat. The whole crew shut up and leaned forward a bit as the rubber man opened his eyes.

"Look! He's waking up!" Chopper exclaimed. Luffy's eyes were open all the way and he sat straight up despite his serious injuries, looking around at his crew and the two people how were his crew but technically weren't right now…and that's what worried him.

"What happened?! Where am I?! Is it over?! Did I win?! That wasn't just a dream, was it?! Was it?!" The rapid-fire questions came all at once, and Luffy didn't seem to want to wait for an answer so Zoro just piped up, smiling at his dorky boyfriend.

"You don't need to freak out." Zoro answered. "You beat him." At that was all that needed to be said. Luffy's panic disappeared and was replaced by a soft smile. Zoro thought it was cute and the rest of the crew did too, smiling back at their idiot captain. Luffy flopped back on the grass, finally having noticed just how much he hurt, but he sighed happily anyway.

"What a relief!"

"Everyone else said you'd lose, but not me!" Ussop bragged, lying right off the bat as he took off Luffy's hat and placed it over his face.

"You're a bad liar." Sanji huffed.

"I guess it would've been a real pain in my ass if you lost." Zoro said.

"No, that's Luffy." Nami interjected.

"Is not!" Luffy retorted without sitting up. "He's the pain in _my_ ass!" Zoro ignored both of them.

"Imagine being stuck on a boat with Foxy. Screw that." Zoro continued.

"That would be the real pain in my ass." Luffy added. And then the whole crew (including Luffy) got their statements and the sexual innuendos mixed up and they all were scared forever shivering at the thought of Foxy doing…

"UGH!" Everyone exclaimed, except Robin, who said it politely.

"No more correcting people on who's a pain in who's ass or else this is going to keep happening!" Nami cried.

"Okay!" Luffy agreed. And speaking of Foxy…he walked up to the crew at that moment, as if sensing that he was being bad mouthed.

"Boss, wait!"

"You've got to take it easy!" Two of Foxy's crew were trying to stop him, since he was just as hurt as Luffy was, but the captain strode forward towards The Strawhats (plus two) and faced Luffy, his captain's coat resting on his shoulders.

"Hey! Rubber boy!" Foxy called, getting said rubber boy's attention. Zoro's hands went to the Wado Ichimonji, taking a protective stance. If Foxy was going to try something while Luffy was down, then he was going to be prepared. "I was pretty attached to that win streak of mine! I'm not pleased about you ruining it!" Luffy's pushed himself into a sitting position, wincing at his aches and pains, and put his hat on.

"Boss no!" Foxy's crew cried.

"I'm kidding, brother!" Foxy said with a smile. "Let's shake!"

"What a man!"

"He's the best!"

"You're too kind, boss!" The crew called out cheers at the camaraderie. Luffy held his hand up but as Foxy reached for it, Hamburg and Porche started giggling to themselves. Instead of taking his hand, foxy grabbed Luffy's arm with both hands and pulled, aiming to execute a body flip on his enemy.

"HIYA!" Foxy yelled. "Take my shoulder pull-" and then his head hit the ground as he reached the end of his pull, Luffy's arm stretching and ruining his sneaky payback attack.

"Oh no!" The Foxy crew shouted.

"This guy's a real piece of work." Zoro sweatdropped.

And then it was time to get down to business. With a huge goose egg on his forehead, Foxy angrily reminded the Strawhat captain that he had five hundred new members to choose for winning the last Davy Back fight. Luffy stood up and of course, chose Robin and Chopper, the two finally discarding their Foxy masks now that they were Strawhats again. Chopper burst into tears, leaping into Luffy's arms and sobbed, having been put through the worst of the day's worries. Luffy laughed at his little friend and hugged him tightly with a huge smile on his face.

"I'm so happy!" The doctor bawled. "Thank you! Thank you!" Robin smiled and handled her comeback with a little more grace, politely handing her mask back to a Foxy pirate. And with four hundred and ninety-eight more crew members to pick, Luffy took the Foxy pirates Jolly Roger mark (but not the sail on the ship) since he didn't need any more crew members. Shirt on, Foxy flag in tow, Luffy and his crew were ready to go. However, the Foxy flag only counted as one and so he was left with four hundred and ninety-seven more crew members to choose, which was a real pain in his – but he wasn't allowed to say that any more.

"The rules are the rules!" Foxy exclaimed, calling Luffy back. "I don't care if you need them or not! You're going to pick those crewmates right now!"

"Awwwww…do I have to?" Luffy whined, pouting.

"Of course you do! Stop complaining!"

"Hey, Luffy!" Zoro called, coming up with a pretty smart idea. "A crew has to follow their captain's orders no matter what, remember?"

"Huh?" He replied, not getting it at first.

"Yes, that's right." Robin agreed.

"That makes it easy!" Ussop agreed as well.

"Hm." Sanji got it as well. Chopper and Nami however, did not.

"What is?" The navigator asked.

"I got it! No problem!" Luffy's smile came back, even wider than before. And that's when he proceeded to stun everyone not in the know. Luffy picked four hundred and ninety-seven crew members (excluding Hamburg, Foxy and Porche), the new Strawhat pirates took the Sexy Foxy away from them for space purposes, sent Foxy and his two member crew off to sea and then Luffy kicked all his new members (excluding Robin and Chopper since technically they were new and old) off of his crew all in less than five minutes.

"You're kicking us off?" The entire new crew sweatdropped.

"Yep! You got it!" Luffy replied matter of factly.

"Captain's orders are absolute," Zoro reminded them, acting like a first mate for once. "I don't want to hear any complaining."

"I don't care if you join your old crews again or if you go back to Split Head, but whatever you do you can't stay with me!" He paused, prolonging the dramatic silence. "So long!"

The Foxy pirates were on the Sexy Foxy and setting sail in less than a minute, all four hundred and ninety-seven of them.

"Well, that worked out nicely." Nami remarked, having figured everything out by that point.

"I'll say." Ussop agreed.

"Good riddance." Sanji added.

"What a pain in my – " Luffy started.

"Shut it!" Everyone yelled, except Robin, who just said it politely.

A/N: And there you go! Let me know what you think and I'll see you next time! :3


	19. If Memory Serves

A/N: ZareEraz here! I'm almost done catching up to where HQV and I are in One Piece! Hooray! So here's the next update and I hope you enjoy it! Don't forget to comment! ;3

Chapter 19: If Memory Serves…

"That's got to be one of the stupidest things that we've ever been through." Zoro sighed, scratching his head as the Merry left the island of the sea god behind. Losing their memories had sucked and it made everything difficult, they didn't trust each other and he'd tried to kill Luffy of all things.

"I'll say." Nami nodded, "And it was all the seahorse's fault. I can't believe that it thought it could be a dragon. How idiotic."

"Well, at least one of us is too stubborn to let something like lost memories stop him." Robin commented. "Luffy's the one who inadvertently got us out of that mess."

"Yeah, but he doesn't really care about that. All he's disappointed about is not getting his bronze statue." Nami sighed. And at that moment, as if knowing that they were talking about him, Luffy shot himself up onto the upper deck and tackled Zoro.

"Zoro!" Luffy shouted angrily as he glommed onto the green-haired man's back.

"What?" Zoro asked, getting the feeling that he was in trouble, but he left Luffy wrap his arms and legs around him just like normal.

"You owe me something special!" Luffy pouted, putting his chin on the top of Zoro's head.

"And why is that?"

"Because you were really mean to me!" Luffy shot back.

"I guess he does care a little bit." Nami noted.

"I was trying my hardest not to really hurt you and you were trying to kill me! So you owe me!" Zoro thought about it for a minute, and realized that Luffy was right.

"Fine. How about we fuc-"

"Forget about that!" Nami interrupted. "Let's just get out of here before anything else weird happens!"

"Aye, aye!" Luffy said with a huge smile. He'd gotten something good out of the conversation so he didn't care what they did at that point. "Where should we do it?" He asked Zoro.

"I don't know…how about in Nami's room?" He suggested, waiting for the violent reaction from the orange-haired woman.

"NO YOU DON'T!" She whirled around and smacked the swordsman in the face, sending him tumbling over the balcony and landing below.

"Ow! Nami!" Both Luffy and Zoro whined.

"I don't want to hear about that! Go make up somewhere I can't see you!" Nami shouted.

"Ewwww!" Ussop and Chopper teased, dissolving into giggles. "They're gonna be alone alone!~"

"If memory serves," Zoro shouted up to the navigator, "You said we could use your room."

"Only if you pay and I don't need it! Do you have the money for it?" She asked with and evil eye.

"No, but you also said the storage room was okay." Zoro shot back.

"Then get in there and don't let us hear you!" Nami growled.

"Let's go!" Luffy chuckled, leaping to his feet and dragging Zoro into the storage room, shutting and locking the door behind him. Two seconds later, the door was slammed open and Sanji was kicked out onto the deck by his captain. The cook brushed off his pants and picked up the supplies he'd been gathering for the kitchen.

"Couldn't they at least wait until I was done getting in there?" He sighed. "I'm never going to be comfortable going in there now that they've taken it over."

"Now that's something I wish I could wipe from my memory." Nami joked, getting a laugh out of the remaining crew as they let their captain and first mate be.

A/N: And there you go! See you all later!


	20. On Ice

A/N: ZareEraz here! I'm all caught up for the moment but the Water 7 chapter should come out soon. I really enjoyed writing this chapter because it has so many underlying emotional tensions that were fascinating to explore. This episode is one of my favorites because we get to see Robin truly panicked for the first time, we see Luffy acting like a captain, Aokiji is freaking awesome (and scary) and we get to see the crew acting like a unit in a dire situation. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. Happy reading! :3

Chapter 20: On Ice

 _I'm impressed that you were able to survive, especially as a child. You've managed to betray, side-step and escape everyone in your past._

 _You've survived in the underworld by being quickly to switch sides…and now you've chosen this crew as your next haven._

 _Every organization that she's had something to do with in the past has been annihilated._

Aokiji's words had run though the air, freezing the tension more than his Ice Age had when it solidified the sea itself. Robin was clearly distressed at his appearance on that deserted island, and the rest of the crew was sharing in her panic now as the Navy Headquarters admiral turned on them, raising his ice sword on Robin. The woman closed her eyes and crossed her arms, scared out of her mind but ready to defend herself as best she could against one of the Navy's powerhouses, but she needn't have worried – her crew had her back.

Zoro stopped Aokiji's blade with his own and Sanji kicked it out of his hands, the ice sword landing in the grass somewhere in the forest. Luffy was next, running up and pulling his arm back to punch the man in the gut with a furious yell, only it hadn't worked so well. Aokiji's Logia body was ice itself, and the cold creeped up Luffy's arm, freezing his fist, elbow and most of his shoulder solid. Aokiji had then reached out and grabbed Sanji's right knee and Zoro's right arm and started to freeze them too. The three men screamed in pain, the unbearable cold burning into the skin as they started to freeze. They'd pulled away from the Marine and laying on the ground, clutching their frozen body parts, still screaming as the rest of the crew's panic surged. Robin was standing in front of Aokiji now, alone and undefended as her friends stood behind her, unable to move. Aokiji told her that she'd never change, despite having such loyal friends and Robin denied that claim, but he ignored her.

Aokiji made his move, leaning down from his great height and wrapping Robin in his arms, almost like he was hugging her, only his body was turning into ice, the frost and chill creeping over Robin's body as well until she was completely frozen solid, a terrified expression on her face.

"ROBIN!" Luffy yelled standing up, still clutching his frozen arm.

"ROBIN!" Sanji repeated, horrified at what was happening. The rest of the crew was gaping in terror, completely frozen (metaphorically) in place.

"YOU BASTARD!" Luffy howled, his horror turning into a fiery anger as he glared at Aokiji.

"Stop yelling." The admiral ordered. "If you thaw her out carefully, she should live. However, her body is extremely fragile in this state, so you'll need to handle her with care. If any part of her breaks," Aokiji punctuated his words by raising a fist and bringing it down towards Robin's frozen body. "…she'll die." The whole crew gasped in dismay as the fist neared Robin, the threat of her dying very real. "For example, if I was to smash her apart like this…"

"NOOOOOO!"

"ROOOOBBBIIINNNN!"

"NOOOOOO!"

"STOOOOOOP!"

Thankfully, Luffy moved lighting quickly and snagged Robin before Aokiji could hit it, bending backwards with his friend in his arms as the admiral's fist his air.

"Huh?" The Marine said.

"That was close!" Luffy panted. Aokiji's foot came up to stomp Robin but hit Luffy instead, Ussop having run forward and grabbed Robin before he could bring his foot down.

"That was amazing, Ussop!" Chopper and Nami cheered, having run across the field with the sniper.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Aokiji growled at the three of them.

"Ussop! Chopper! Quick!" Luffy yelled, rolling out from under the admiral's foot. "Take Robin and run back to the ship! Thaw her out and keep her safe!" He ordered.

"Right! You got it, captain!" They responded instantly, running back into the forest as quickly and carefully as they could, trying to keep the archeologist from breaking.

"Don't bother," Aokiji said calmly, slowly walking after them, his cold body making clouds in the warm air. "The world would be a much better place without that woman in it." Suddenly, there was a staff in his face and Aokiji grabbed it before it could make contact. Nami had attacked him, defending her friend and trying to stall for time.

"Not to split hairs," Nami countered. "But a pirate crew pretty much consists of people just like that."

"You've got that right lady," He replied. "Now if you don't mind, kindly step aside." Aokiji threw Nami to the side by yanking on her Clima-tact. She hit the ground hard at the admiral's feet.

"Nami!" Sanji yelled. He and Zoro jumped to their feet, ready to fight and defend her and Robin and Ussop and Chopper in spite of their frozen limps. Sanji could barely run with his knee and Zoro's right arm was useless so he was fighting with one swords as they began to attack the ice man.

"You're not messing with this crew!" Zoro growled, pissed that they'd been hurt by this man, first by maiming and then by threatening to kill their friend.

"Wait! Nobody attack him!" Luffy's voice ordered from behind everyone. Sanji and Zoro slid to a halt, looking back at their captain in shock. What was he thinking!? "Stay back and don't interfere. I'm going to fight him one-on-one." Zoro's heart leapt into his throat involuntarily. _Luffy…what are you thinking?! This guy is dangerous! He just took out all three of us at the same time! Do you really think that you can beat him alone!?_ The rubber man held up his fists, ready to fight. "What do you say?" Luffy continued, addressing his new enemy. "The two of us can settle this on our own."

"Fine by me." Aokiji replied, his body starting to ice over again. "But since I don't have a ship to take you back…then I'll just have to kill ya."

"Luffy-!" Zoro started to tell his boyfriend how stupid he was being when Luffy cut him off.

"Get you asses moving! Go to the ship! NOW!" Luffy's voice was hard and held no mercy for those that disobeyed him. For the first time, he was really looking and acting like a captain, forcing his crew to accept his orders out of respect for his position. They couldn't disobey him now; that would go against everything that being on a crew stood for. Zoro growled angrily, wanting to shout and yell and pound some sense into Luffy, but he sheathed his sword, following his captain's orders no matter how worried about his boyfriend he was. He'd follow Luffy's orders…but that didn't mean that he wouldn't come back for him.

"Nami! Lover Boy! Let's go!" Zoro shouted as he started running towards the Merry.

"What?!" Sanji exclaimed. "You're just gonna leave Luffy here?!" The whole crew knew how much he loved and respected Luffy, so it didn't make any sense for the swordsman to leave his lover behind without argument.

"Captain's orders!" Zoro replied, grabbing Nami's arm and dragging her to her feet. The woman looked up at her crewmate and gasped, seeing the demon look in his eyes that he only glared at his enemies. In that one look, Nami understood how much harder it was for Zoro to leave Luffy behind, how conflicted and heartbreaking it must be for him to do such a thing. But Zoro was the first mate, if he didn't follow orders then how could he expect anyone else on the crew too? Nami stood up and started running, brushing off her crewmate's hand.

"Come on, Sanji!" She snapped, and the cook, now finding himself alone in the matter, ran after then as best he could with his knee, stealing a glance behind him as Luffy squared off against Aokiji.

It was the longest run in Zoro's life. His heart was pounding, breath heaving as he tried to run as fast – faster – than he'd ever run before. He had to get back to Luffy as quickly as possible, but he had to go to the ship first as per his orders and he needed to get rid of this ice on his arm if he was going to be any help. The deserted island wasn't big, but it felt like hours before they'd reached the end of the jungle, the walk there seemed to have been and eternity shorter the first time they'd crossed it, but the Merry was in sight, anchored off the shore.

"Chopper!" The swordsman yelled, trying to get the doctor's attention as they ran up to the Merry.

"What's going on?" Chopper slammed open a door and ran outside. "Why are just the three of you here?! Where's Luffy?!" Nami and Sanji were standing next to the swordsman, the former panting from the run and the latter delicately balancing on one leg, but Luffy was nowhere in sight, causing the doctor distress. They couldn't escape without their captian!

"There's no time to explain!" Zoro shouted back, holding his frozen arm as it ached, ached just as much as leaving Luffy had been. "We need to go back right away! Help us do something about this frozen arm and leg!" _Ice first, then Luffy._ Zoro didn't even care that he'd added that lovesick cook into the equation of getting Luffy back – they were going to need as much strength as they could muster to do it.

"Oh, right!" Chopper's voice was trembling, his fear showing through even as he talked them through textbook explanations. "We need to douse every part of your body that's frozen in water!" He started looking around worriedly. "But…we're using the shower room for Robin…"

"How is Robin?" Nami asked, her head popping up. "Is she okay?!"

"It's too early to tell!" Chopper was distracted by a splash near the back of the ship and his head snapped around to see what it was. Sanji and Zoro had leapt into the sea, figuring out that that was the easiest place to access water to melt the ice. The faster they got back to Luffy, the better off they'd be.

"What are you doing?" Nami asked, confused by the duo's actions. Sanji's head popped out of the water next to Zoro's.

"Will this do, Chopper?" The blonde man asked. Zoro floated next to him, still holding his arm, an extremely worried scowl on his face. _Luffy…you'd better not die!_ The pain of the burning ice on his arm was nothing compared to what Luffy was probably going through right now, he'd endure it without complaint. When they'd left, most of Luffy's right arm had been frozen already from that one punch he'd landed, and Luffy's fighting style was all about physical contact. The more he touched Aokiji the more his body would freeze. This one little patch of ice was nothing in the face of that – it was an insignificant amount of pain in comparison to Robin's and Luffy's. However, Zoro couldn't endure the hurt in complete silence, letting out one or two grunts of pain as the ice started to melt. Sanji was in the same boat and he needed to used his frozen leg to keep himself afloat, his hisses more frequent that the swordsman's.

"Yes!" Chopper confirmed. "Once the ice begins to melt, start rubbing the affected areas and then come up to the ship right away! Nami! Come aboard and help us treat Robin!"

"Right!" Nami ran to the ship and climbed up onto the deck, disappearing into the shower room to help the doctor.

As the ice cracked and melted, Sanji and Zoro peeled it off, wincing as they freed their bodies once again and then made it onto the ship. Chopper handed them dry towels to hold against their skin and to help rub heat back into their muscles before going back to Robin. Both men did as they were told, sitting on the deck in their soaked clothes. Ussop emerged from the shower room via the storage room and opened the door to find the pair sitting on deck.

"What the-? Why are you guys here?" He asked, doing the same thing that Chopper had when they'd first arrived. "What happened? Where's Luffy?!" It seemed that their captain was on everyone's mind. Just the mention of his name was making Zoro feel even worse about leaving him behind, and Sanji's tight expression reflected the same worry.

"Fighting Aokiji one-on-one." The cook answered curtly, his eyes narrowing.

"One-on-one!?" Ussop gaped. "You mean you left Luffy there all by himself!?"Another prickly comment, another twist in Zoro's heart. Ussop should just shut up.

"Those were the captain's orders." Sanji said simply, closing his eyes, resigned to their actions. Ussop looked at Zoro, finding the same resignation there as well. They didn't like it, but they had to deal with it.

"Are you crazy?! Can't you tell when an order is unreasonable!?" Ussop argued. They were all scared out of their minds, stretched so thin with worry and panic that getting into a fight was easy. "I can't believe that you would be so cold-hearted to leave him behin-" Sanji leapt up and grabbed Ussop by his overalls, slamming him into the wall.

"It was a duel! Can't you understand that!?" He yelled back. "It's what he wanted!"

"Stop it, both of you! This isn't the time!" Zoro snapped, drawing their attention. What Sanji and Ussop saw on his face was enough to stop their fight – compared to what Zoro was feeling, their anger and frustration and worry was nothing. The argument died right then and there as Zoro spoke, his voice softer but just as pained as before. "Right now, we need to stay focused, okay? Whether this decision was one of his passing whims or not, whatever happens we have to be ready to deal with it, understand?" _Even death?_ The question hung in the air even though no one would ask it. They weren't even sure if Chopper could save Robin and if Luffy ended up in the same state and they couldn't be revived…then what would they do? That question didn't have an answer either and no one wanted to answer it anyway.

When Chopper had a spare moment to leave Robin with Nami, he came out and checked on Zoro and Sanji, putting ointment and bandages around their arm and leg as quickly as he could. Once they were patched up, Zoro and Sanji left the ship to go back for Luffy, having followed his orders. They ran as fast as they could. Zoro shouted at Sanji to pick up the pace as he pulled ahead, and Sanji reminded him that it was his leg that was injured, but picked up the pace nonetheless, not wanting to lose to the green-haired man even in this instance. However, the competition between then faded away as they both ran, charging through the jungle until they could almost see the field where Luffy and Aokiji were. _We're almost there…hang on, Luffy!_ Luffy was strong, Zoro knew that, but Aokiji was an enemy that couldn't be defeated easily or at all with the way Luffy fought. It was like when Zoro, Sanji and Robin had faced Eneru, they couldn't even touch him let alone fight him – they had been incompatible with Eneru's Devil Fruit powers and had lost. That's what this fight was: everything that Aokiji touched froze – the air, earth, water and even living flesh. Luffy wasn't immune; he'd been frozen just like Zoro had, and he was still fighting with that useless limb and possibly others. Zoro ran even faster, forcing his legs to move, forcing his body to its limits. If he was too late…if Luffy had been defeated…if he'd died…Zoro would never forgive himself for behind so weak.

They crested the hill leading out of the forest, the field and the sea spreading out in front of them. There was more ice now than before, waves and curls snaking across the ground, but Aokiji was nowhere to be seen. Had he…? Had he killed Luffy? The thought was unbearable. Zoro's eyes scoured the area, searching for any signs of life but there were none. His heart plummeted, his stomach roiling in fear of Luffy's safety. Then…he spotted something odd among the ice, a form that wasn't smooth or twisted like all the other ice around it…it was Luffy!

"There he is!" Zoro shouted. Luffy was completely frozen solid, just like Robin was, his arm stretched out in a punch, his legs bent like he had been jumping, his entire body leaning precariously because of the way he had to be propped up. Luffy had been growling when the ice froze him, leaving his face in a mask of anger and retribution, whether or not Aokiji had suffered any of it was moot point. Luffy was alive! Sort of.

"Luffy!" Sanji shouted, a smile splitting his face even in such dire circumstances.

"He's still in one piece!" Zoro shouted, his heart soaring at that little blessing.

"That's good news!"

"I'll carry him!" They both said at the same time. "Let's get him to the ship!" The pair spoke in chant again. "Stop saying what I'm saying!" They reached Luffy, both of them shoving their face in the other's, growling ferociously.

"Just…" Zoro started, his eyes flicking towards Luffy, breaking contact with Sanji's. "…let me carry him…" The swordsman's voice dropped, hinting at his remorse.

"You feel guilty…for leaving him behind." Sanji deduced, taking a step back, letting Zoro have his way.

"You do too." The green-haired man shot back.

"But it's different…when it's a lover." Sanji said, understanding and relinquishing his offensive stance for once.

"What a stupid lover." Zoro sighed, reaching out to touch Luffy's frozen cheek. It was cold and unmoving; so unlike Luffy's joyful and boisterous nature.

"I'll never deny that one." Sanji sighed. "Have it your way. Let's go, Moss Head." And for once, Zoro didn't complain about the insult. The swordsman picked up Luffy around his middle and hefted him under his arm pit, delicately holding him. Zoro had carried the young man many times when he got jumped on, but this time he was much heavier because of the ice coating his body, but Zoro didn't complain as they started running again.

Back on the ship, Zoro deposited Luffy into Chopper's hands and he was carefully taken to the shower room to be thawed out with a defrosted Robin that Nami was rubbing down and dressing. Then he was kicked out to go wait outside with the rest of the crew since Chopper could handle Luffy on his own now that Robin was out of danger. The long, tedious wait began. Nami and Ussop didn't say a word as they sat on the balcony and Sanji kept rubbing his leg as it stung, Zoro's arm feeling the same. The swordsman kept rubbing and gripping his elbow to try and ease the pain with pressure, trying to imagine that feeling across his entire body – that's what Luffy and Robin were feeling. Ten minutes passed…then twenty…thirty…forty…Finally, the door slammed open. Chopper was in tears as his small form burst through the door. Zoro didn't know whether they were tears of joy or grief, waiting on the edge of his seat for the verdict since something clearly had happened. _Are they…alive?_

"Both…of their hearts…" Chopper sobbed, "…are beating!"

"YEAH!" Nami, Ussop and Sanji cheered, throwing the towels they'd had laundered into the air.

"Luffy!" Ussop shouted, running towards the door.

"Robin!" Sanji yelled, doing the same. Chopper expanded into his human form and grabbed both of their heads, stopping them from going any further.

"No! You can't go in yet! I don't want them disturbed, understand?" He ordered.

"Hey! Dr. Chopper," Sanji started, "How about I make them some food?" Chopper shrunk to his normal size and started wiggling around with a smile on his face.

"Calling me 'doctor' won't make me happy or anything, you stupid jerk!" He giggled, clearly liking the title. "But is suppose some warm drinks would be nice for when they wake up. I'll carry them into the lounge later."

"Aye, aye, sir!" Sanji dashed off to the kitchen without another word. Zoro looked over at Nami who was picking up the newly washed towels off the floor.

"Hey, Nami." He called. "Should we set sail?" He asked, ready to get off this island and away from Aokiji, wherever he was.

"No," she replied. "Not yet. Not while the captain's out of commission. The log pose has our new heading but let's rest here for the day." As she finished up, the swordsman's attention was drawn to something else – it was Ussop collapsing against the wall and sinking boneless to the floor, groaning the whole way.

"What's wrong, Ussop?" Zoro asked, feeling just as exhausted as the sniper looked. "You look beat." But he'd never admit that he was beat too.

"Are there going to be more guys like him coming after us everywhere we go?" He asked. "This is crazy. I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"Get some sleep, idiot." Zoro answered, taking charge while Luffy was out. "You're just exhausted, 'kay?" And speaking of exhausted, Zoro was beat too. But he wasn't content to wait out on deck now that he knew that Luffy and Robin were safe. He wanted to be by their side…well, mostly Luffy's but Robin was his friend too. Zoro walked up to the storage room door and knocked on the open doorway. Chopper poked his head out of the bathroom.

"Need some help?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, thanks." Chopper ducked back into the shower room and came out with Robin in his human form, carefully handing the woman over to Zoro. "Take her to the lounge, please. I still have to dry Luffy off."

"Got it." Zoro settled Robin into his arms princess style and walked her up to the kitchen area. Nami had gone ahead of him and had made up two makeshift beds out of the extra mattresses for the bed downstairs and all the blankets and pillows on the ship, since the only proper bed was down in her room. Zoro laid Robin out on the new bed and covered her up with a blanket, noting the Nami had chosen simple pants and a hoodie for the woman to say warm with as he pulled two blankets up over her. Robin was breathing evenly, but her face was red from the hot water and ice that had been dumped over her and Luffy had to be in the same condition. He saw that he was right once Chopper brought Luffy upstairs, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts since the young man didn't own anything warmer. Once they both were settled, the doctor shoved Sanji outside once the drinks were made and just needed to be heated up, but as Zoro was shoved out the door, he asked a question.

"Chopper…can I stay?" The swordsman asked. The doctor gave him a critical eye. Zoro sighed. "I just want to take a nap." The eye came around again.

"Fine. As long as you're quiet. I still have to finish bandaging up Luffy." Chopper let the man stay and shut the door once again. Zoro wandered back to Luffy's side, sitting down and leaning against the wall next to the rubber man. Luffy was sleeping quietly for once, his mouth closed, his breathing even. Just seeing him safe was relief enough for the swordsman and he felt the panic and fear of the day slip away as Chopper finished up his work and sat down to rest.

 _Luffy…you're an idiot._ Zoro slumped against the wall, resting his swords on his shoulder as his eyes drifted shut. Unexpectedly, Luffy shifted in his sleep, his arm flying out as if he were still fighting Aokiji and smacked Zoro's leg. The swordsman cracked on eye open and saw the hand resting on his leg. Confirming that no one was watching, he gently took Luffy's hand in his own and held it, falling asleep almost instantly now that they were safe.

A/N: And there you go! I hope you enjoyed that and I'll see you all later! :3


	21. Blood, Sweat and Tears

A/N: ZareEraz here! I know it's been awhile but now it's time to play catch-up! In the next week-ish or so I'm going to be writing and uploading chapters from Water Seven to Amazon Lily so stay tuned for a lot of updates! I'm starting with Water Seven, of course! And since this is the fourth time I've personally had to open up this can of hurt and tears (watching it and writing it), I'm really sorry if I don't do the feels justice. But I'm going to do my best anyway! So…I'd like to say "enjoy" but this chapter isn't really one to enjoy per say and you know what I mean – I hope you like reading it all the same. I'm also calling bullcrap on Chimney for seeing Luffy in between two buildings from, like, twenty blocks and a huge bridge away. Bullcrap, Chimney.

Chapter 21: Blood, Sweat and Tears

Swift Retribution

 _Wow! A real caravel!_

 _What a cool ship! Have you guys seen the front? Totally awesome!_

 _Okay! It's all done! Now the Going Merry has everything she could possibly need!_

 _Are you saying it's impossible for us to continue sailing on the Going Merry?_

 _Yes._

 _No matter how much you pay, that ship cannot be restored to how she used to be._

 _I'm not getting a new ship. The Going Merry is the ship of the Straw Hat Pirates!_

 _Humans become stronger hardship after hardship. But ships are different. Their wounds just pile up._

 _But I don't want to leave the Merry! I love her!_

 _We all do. But her wounds are too deep. There's nothing we can do._

 _Ussop! Ussop! Hey! Say something! Are you alright! Open your eyes! Ussop! Hey! Ussop! Who did this to you?! Was it the Franky Family?!_

 _It happened…'cuz I'm weak…they took…they took all the money! Nami…how can I…face…the others…now? We were finally able…to fix…the Merry! I'm so…ashamed…!_

Unforgivable. That's what this was. Not only had the Franky Family stolen from them but they had also hurt their friend, before and _after_ he'd tried to get the money back – for his ship, for his pride and for his friends. And that's where they found Ussop, crumpled on the ground and clinging to life just a stone's throw away from the Franky House. Luffy, Sanji and Zoro stared down at their broken friend, waiting as Chopper looked him over, carefully turning the wounded man onto his back and checking for vital signs and where he was most hurt. It was disgusting just how cruel the Franky Family was. Unforgiveable. Unforgiveable. Unforgiveable!

"Is he still breathing Chopper?" Luffy asked after a few moments, his voice low.

"He's unconscious…." The doctor's voice was thick, as if he was going to cry, his man-beast hands trembling as he hovered over his friend. "But yes, he's breathing. He'll live. I can save him!"

Luffy's hand came up to his head and rested on the crown of his straw hat, tipping the brim over his eyes, shadowing his face. The whole crew knew that look. That was the look of a man itching for a fight, and a fight that he wasn't going to lose no matter what. Sanji lit a cigarette, gearing up for a beat down. Zoro pulled his bandana off his arm and wrapped it around his head, his face set in the avenging scowl of a demon. Chopper stood up, his great height towering over his friends as he snorted, his teeth clenched in barely restrained fury. The Franky Family…no, _Franky_ …was going to pay for what he'd done, every last bit of it from Ussop's defeat, to stealing the money and all the trouble in between.

"You wait out here for us…okay, Ussop?" The captain asked, staring down at the tear streaked and bloody face of his sniper. "We're going to level that stupid looking house to the ground."

The four remaining men of the Straw Hat Pirates advanced on the Franky House, walking side by side in a line of unmovable determination and swift retribution of those who had hurt their friend. The Franky Family was going to pay dearly for everything they'd ever done. Luffy could hear them now, laughing and shouting from inside their hideout, sounding like there wasn't a care in the world. He growled under his breathing, furious with them, drawing Zoro's attention from on his right. The swordsman glanced over to his captain, seeing his livid glare and mouth set in a frown so unlike his usual smile and Zoro found himself smiling a cruel grin himself for just a moment before wiping it off his face. He usually almost-pitied anyone on the receiving end of Luffy's fist when he was this furious, but he didn't feel any pity for the Franky Family. They deserved it. He was feeling everything that Luffy was right now, they all were: hate, disgust, unbridled fury and the desire for revenge. Luffy was pissed. Zoro was pissed. Sanji was pissed. Chopper was pissed. The Franky Family wasn't going to know what hit them.

They'd reached huge door to the Franky House. Luffy stopped, his last step almost a stomp, sending up a small cloud of dust. Silently, Luffy had decided the point past which they were not allowed to retreated, and it was right outside the door. Once they were inside that stupid looking house, they were not allowed to come out until everyone in there had suffered their wrath. Zoro's hands drifted to his blades, gripping the scabbard on the Wado Ichimonji. Sanji picked up his right leg, tapping his toe on the ground, ready to grind his heel into those bastards' faces. Chopper tensed his arms, his beastly strength barely held in check. Luffy brought up his fists and cracked his knuckles, his eyes narrowing on the door. He was going to punch it down but the door opened all by itself, a huge man with pink hair and a hat, wearing stupid looking glasses and an outfit that looked like an iron diaper with suspenders stepped out, looking down at the four men in front of him.

"Hm?" He said. That was all he got to say before he was punched in the face by Luffy's rocketing fist. He was sent flying backwards, blood spurting from his nose and broken face, ripping the door off its hinges because everything happened so fast that he hadn't been able to let go of the doorknob. The rubber man's arm slung back into place before the gigantic man had even hit the ground, the impact breaking the floor and sending up a cloud of dust into the air.

"What happened?!" One of the other men shouted, barely dodging the crash. He looked at the door, seeing four men standing there, one of them wearing a straw hat. More of Franky's men looked at the door, their anger kindled at the men who'd interrupted their party.

"Who the hell are those guys?!"

"You jerks! You got a death wish?" A moment of silence passed before the Franky Family knew what they were up against. They swallowed in unison, fear prickling up their spines.

"I recognize them! It's that pirate!" A man with spiky black hair and tan skin breathed, sweating running down his neck as he figured out who'd attacked. "Straw Hat Luffy!" Most of the Franky men started sweating too, the 100 million Beri bounty of Luffy's head a formidable testament to his strength.

"Hahaha!" A deep voice laughed. "So…you came to get your money back, did ya?" A man just a huge as the last one with bright orange hair walked up to the front, setting and iron breast plate and collar on his exposed skin. "Bad move. Just take a look around you. Do you really think that the four of you are enough to handle all of us? Hahaha! But, since you're here, we might as well take those big bounties you've got on your heads!"

"Hahaha!" The spiky, black-haired man laughed. "He's the captain of that long-nosed weakling we took care of earlier." More of the men laughed.

"With that pitiful excuse for a pirate on his crew, he can't possibly be that strong!" Another shouted. But they were still intimidated by the presence of that scrawny man, no matter how illogical it was.

It was true, the Franky Family had them outnumbered, but they were out classed, even if they didn't know it.

"Let's go." The huge man with the orange hair stood in front of Luffy now, looming over him. "Come on, shrimp." Luffy lifted his head up to glare at him, his eyes narrowing. If looks could kill, this man would've been dead.

"Now Gum-Gum…" Luffy growled, throwing his arms back and punching them at lightning speed, stretching them and moving them like his Gum-Gum Gatling. But his punches weren't hitting anything, stretching just far enough to almost smack the starred and armored belly of Franky's crony. The man looked down, confused as to what Luffy was doing.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked.

"Haha! Are you punching him?!" Another of Franky's men howled gleefully. "Not even a battleship cannon can put a dent in that armor!"

"Hahaha! What a joke!" Another laughed. Luffy's crew waited for the rest of the attack, knowing that Luffy hadn't finished anything yet.

"If you're just going to play around, then I'll go ahead and end this right now!" The huge man lifted up the battle axe in his hand and went to bring it down on Luffy's head, but he never got that far. The rubber man's punches sped up another notch and converged on the star on the man's armor, becoming an unstoppable attack with unbelievable force in an instant. He broke through the armor, shattering a hole in the metal and sending the second huge man flying just like the first.

"CANNON!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! He punched a hole right through it!" All of Franky's men were screaming now after having a taste of what was to come.

"Hey! Hold on! Wait a second you guys!" The spiky-haired man was speaking now, holding up his hands defensively to the Straw Hats. "Let's talk about this first!" No response. "Okay…guys?!" Still no response. "Okay, guys! Fire the cannons!" A bunch of Frankys' men ducked, revealing five cannons that were set to fire on the crew. They released their payload as ordered, and Zoro stepped up, running ahead and placing the Wado Ichimonji into his mouth.

"Now, Three-Sword Style…Karatsuma…" He jumped into the air and drew the Yubashiri first, sliding one cannon ball and then drew the Kitetsu, slicing another before making three more cuts while spinning. The cannon balls exploded behind him and his crew, never having reached their targets. "…Raven Hunt!"

"What?! Impossible! Those cannon balls are made of iron!" Zoro glanced up, his eyes hooded by his bandana, holding the same glare as his captain's. He moved in the next instant, slicing one of the cannons into two, shocking the Franky Family with his speed and skill.

"The cannon's too?!" They screamed as it collapsed.

"Holy crap! These guys are seriously bad news!"

"Let's get out of here! Everyone run for the back door!" They ran, trying to escape their punishment. Sanji wouldn't let them escape. He jumped, leaping onto one of the cannons and then sailing over all of Franky's men, landing in a one-handed handstand on some guy's face.

"You're the ones that started this fight, it's kind of pathetic to run from it like cowards." He snarled. "Party Table…Kick Course!" Using the face he was balancing on as his platform, the cook swung his legs around white spinning his hands, becoming a tornado of kicks that devastated anyone within leg's reach. He knocked everyone out of his way, landing on the ground in a cloud of smoke, blocking the back door and anyone who was trying to get out.

"We can't make it to the back door! Use the windows!" The men still standing ran for any exit, but they were blocked yet again by the doctor of the Straw Hat pirates.

'Rumble!" Chopper growled. "Horn Point!" He slapped his hands on the ground, leveling his growing horns that those trying to make a run for it, the sharp points as deadly as any sword. The men running towards him were now running away and he ran after them, tossing, and knocking away anyone in his path. "Roseo Colonnnade!" More men were thrown into the ground injured and now the Franky Family's forces were devastated.

"Waaaaaiiiittt! Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait!" The spiky haired man was waving his hands again. "It's about the money right? You just want the money back!? The 200 million Beris that the long-nose guy had?!" Luffy's eye twitched at the mention of it as his men walked back to his side. "Is that it?! I'm sorry to be the one to tell you but that pile of money isn't here anymore! Franky, the family boss, took it all and went on a shopping spree! And since he's buying something on the black market, we don't have any idea where he might be or even how to find him! So no matter how much of a rampage you go on, that 200 million won't be coming back!" Luffy pulled his arm back. "So why don't you-" And then he punched that guy right in his blabbering mouth.

"Zambai!" A man with beard shouted as his comrade flew into the back wall.

"Shut up. That's enough out of you." Sanji hissed. "This has nothing to do with the money."

"Damn straight." Zoro growled. "It's too late for that." _This is for our friend!_

"Not even your bones will be left when we're done." Luffy promised, clenching his fist. And they went to town, smashing and cutting everything and anyone in their path, no matter how many tricks the Franky Family tried to pull or how they fought back. The carnage and destruction lasted only as long as Chopper's Rumble Ball did – they hadn't needed any more time than that because the house collapsed on top of everyone still left inside

The smoke started to settle as Sanji smoke another cigarette, sitting on a bit of rubble talking to Zoro about whether or not they should go after Franky – but they didn't know where to look and the bastard's subordinates really hadn't known where he'd gone. They were stuck. Chopper had run back over to Ussop to treat his wounds after his ordeals and was still over there, winding and cutting bandages around his friend. Luffy was up on top of what used to be the crescent moon adorning the roof of the Franky House, staring out into the sea. Zoro looked up at his captain and wondered what he could be thinking about. Luffy was mad about Ussop, probably still was even after taking revenge – he knew that he felt the same way, and probably worried about what they were going to do about the Merry if he'd heard the assessment from Galley-La, all the while still hating Franky for the mess he'd landed them in. Their friend was hurt, they'd lost two thirds of their money, they ship was on her last legs and they didn't know where Robin was – this day couldn't get any worse.

"Okay!" Chopper called, waving his little arms up in the air to get the cook's and swordsman's attention. "The first aid treatment is all done! We need to take him back on a stretcher, so I could use some held over here!"

"Hanging around here won't do any good. Let's head back to the ship for now." Sanji suggested. "We left Nami there all by herself and Robin's still missing. The ship's a problem too." He finished, getting too his feet and looking up at where Luffy was standing. The rubber man hadn't said anything for a few minutes now and they'd left him alone to sort things out, but now it was time to go.

"Yeah." Zoro sighed, starting to walk over to help Chopper.

"Hey! Luffy!" The blond man called, trying to get the young man's attention.

"I've made a decision. About the ship." Was the reply he got. The beach suddenly seemed so quiet, only interrupted by the calls of seagulls in the distance. Even Zoro stopped walking to hear what his captain had to say. "It's time to part ways with the Merry. We'll say goodbye to her here." Zoro and Sanji sighed, understanding in their heads that Luffy was making a smart choice – a logical choice – for once. But no matter how logical it was, all of their hearts were a little heavier hearing his words, their chests a little tighter as they thought about leaving their friend behind.

This day could not get any worse.

But it would.

Drawing Battle Lines

Luffy stood on small island at the edge of Water Seven, the rest of his crew behind him on the Merry, waiting for Ussop to come back. It was nearly ten in the evening and the moon had risen high in the sky already, illuminating the night softly with enough light to see with. Or to fight with. It was chilly, the sea breezes picking up after a day of relatively calm weather, as if nature itself knew what was going to happen to the Straw Hat crew, as if it knew just how much turmoil was lingering in the hearts of six individuals. One of them was furious and lost, somewhere in the city. One of them was resigned to what was about to happen and they were all worried.

Luffy's head was swimming with the conversation and the ensuing argument that he had Ussop had had when the sniper found out that the Merry couldn't sail anymore, that they were going to part ways here on Water Seven.

 _This wouldn't have happened if I was strong like you guys. I'm sorry! It's all my fault! I'm so ashamed of myself! I know that money was important! All the trouble we went through! What about the Merry?!_

 _Is Merry…going to be okay? Can we get her repaired with the money we have left? It's great that we have all these awesome ship wrights to work on her! I know it's going to be rough out there, so I want her so I want her to be strong than ever before!_ That's what Ussop had wanted, what they all had wanted…but it just wasn't possible, even with all the money in the world. So, Luffy had told him…told Ussop what decision he had made, for the safety of the crew and for Merry.

 _We aren't having them repair her. We decided to get a new ship instead. I know that we probably should've asked you first but we didn't have much choice. Either way, I've made up my mind. The Going Merry has taken good care of us, but it looks like our journey with her has to end here._ He'd said it with a smile he didn't really feel, trying to be the strong one because Ussop was not going to like any of this. Luffy had come to peace with the Merry's impending end as much as he could in a short time, and it's not like he was ungrateful for her dedication to them, but she was old and tired – it was time to rest. The rest of the crew agreed with him, as much as they hated it as well and when Luffy had broken the news and they all saw the devastated look on the sniper's face, the whole crew's face dropped as well. They weren't happy about it, but they knew that it was time to let the Merry go. But Ussop was of the opposite opinion.

 _Wait…just stop. I get it, Luffy, but the joke's gone on long enough, okay? See? Chopper doesn't know you're kidding! Geez, captain! You know better than to treat your crew like that! Come on, Nami, back me up here!_ That's when Luffy's smile had faded and Ussop looked around at the faces of his friends, finally getting that Luffy wasn't joking at all. He started to panic, thinking that the repairs couldn't be afforded because he'd lost the money and he started blaming himself, but that just wasn't true at all. Merry couldn't be fixed and Luffy wasn't kidding around. They both started arguing, Ussop yelling about not sugar coating whatever Luffy had to say and Luffy shouted back that he wasn't. Even Zoro felt the need to step in a started to break them up when the two got in each other's faces.

 _How can you be so calm when he's talking about getting a new ship!?_

 _I'm not joking! This was a hard decision for me too!_

 _If we can't afford the repairs because I screwed up, just tell me! Don't show me some stupid catalogue and change the subject! I want to know the truth!_

 _The Merry can't be repaired._ He'd said it. He'd said it right to Ussop's face just like he wanted, and it blew up into a fight that neither of them backed down from, that neither of them could take back.

 _What did you just say?_ That's was Ussop had asked next, his eyes wide and shifty, like he couldn't believe it even if it was the truth. Luffy hadn't wanted to say it again, it hurt too much, but he did anyway, making sure that his friend knew he was serious. But that hadn't helped, it hadn't done any good. Ussop still refused to believe that the Merry was at the end of her journey, that she could be fixed and it was infuriating because he was stomping on everyone's feelings by acting like the battered ship could be fixed, that she could still carry them. If the Merry really didn't hold out until the next island like the shipwrights had said, then they were all dead. It wasn't a joke, it wasn't something to laugh at or brush off and yet Ussop did, basically calling the professional assessment a load of shit, insulting his captain's decision by saying that he didn't believe in the strength of his ship or his crew, by basically calling him a untrusting dumbass. But Luffy didn't just have himself or the ship to worry about, he had to worry about all six of his friends on top of that and he wouldn't let them pay for his foolishness if he had decided to sail on the Merry. He wouldn't let them die because one many refused to face the truth! They were getting a new ship whether Ussop liked it or not, that was the safest and most humane decision that he could make, for them and for the Merry. But Ussop still wouldn't listen. And that's when he almost said something unforgiveable, something that, in the heat of anger, he would've regretted saying for the rest of his life.

He'd almost told Ussop to get out of his crew.

But he was glad that Sanji had kicked him into a wall before he could finish.

But it still hadn't helped and it still didn't do any good.

Ussop left the crew, and then challenged Luffy to a duel for ownership of the Merry, adding insult on top of injury for all of his friends. It wasn't enough that they had lost their ship, lost Robin and lost Ussop as well, but now the former friends were locked in a fight that neither of them could back down from. Sanji, Nami and Chopper had run after Ussop as he left the Merry, calling his name, trying to get him to come back. Luffy had listened in silence as Zoro stood by his side. A few moments later, the captain of the Straw Hats had gotten up and walked outside, at least willing to watch his friend go. Zoro followed him out, still silent, and kept an eye on his lover, watching the way his face looked on the brink of anger again or on the brink of devastation. It hurt to see him like that. Everything about that day was hurting and it would continue to hurt and scar their hearts as the night fell and things got worse.

But Nami had said it best: _Just this morning we had all been so happy…and now what? We lost Ussop…Robin's still missing…I feel like if we don't do something…the whole crew is going to fall apart._

And that's why Luffy was standing in the cool sea wind staring into the city, waiting for the inevitable. Everything was falling apart, but if he could keep it together long enough for them to get through this fight, through finding Robin and through getting a new ship…then he could break. That's all he could do.

A small part of him hoped that Ussop would just turn tail and be a coward like he was sometimes, but this was too big to back down from and too close to home to give up on it. He wanted the Merry and he'd fight a 100 million Beri pirate to get what he wanted. It was horrible, just how much they'd turned on each other. They were friends: they laughed together, cried together, fought together, ate together, make fun of each other together, played together, slept together and celebrated together. All the memories of East Blue, Little Garden, Alabasta and Skypiea were swirling around in Luffy's head, making each breath more painful, each moment a little more heartbreaking. Ussop's laugh, his jokes and games and lies and cowardly attempts that were so endearing were now pricks of agony digging away at his heart.

The rubber man bit his lip, trying to keep everything he was feeling at bay, trying to give Ussop the duel he wanted without being distracted by just how hard this was going to be. He was going to fight his best friend, and he was going to try and crush him into the dust…if he was even capable of that in the first place. Ussop was his friend! Friends shouldn't fight like this! But talking hadn't worked and they'd only hurt each other – there was nothing else to do but fight and then say goodbye.

"No matter how this battle ends, you can't regret it. This is exactly what you asked for." That was the last thing Luffy had said to Ussop, right before they fought, hoping that the sniper was at least resolute in his conviction to tear them apart.

And so they fought. When Ussop appeared, keeping his word, he'd fought Luffy with everything he had. Luffy had been on the ropes, unable to really fight because it was Ussop, because he used to be his friend, because Ussop knew him inside and out and had learned how to cause the most pain. Rotten eggs, fire, gas, caltrops, pepper, Flash Dials, Impact Dials, even his own Bazooka – no matter what was thrown at him; it still didn't hurt as much as when he punched the crap out of Ussop.

He fell, and Luffy fell to his knees as well, holding the trembling arm that had just hurt his friend.

"You idiot," He breathed, covered in cuts and bruises, his mouth burning, his eyes tearing up, his soul aching. "You _knew_ it would end like this! You _knew_ you could never beat me!" Luffy shouted, the sound ripping out of his throat. And then he walked away, retrieving his hat from the battlefield and placing it on his head.

"Do whatever you want with the Merry. I won't let anything hold us back." He said, refusing to look back at his former crewmate. "We're getting a new ship and sailing forward. So long, Ussop. It was fun…while it lasted."

Chopper tried to run to Ussop, to treat his wounds, but Sanji stopped him, trying to give Ussop dignity in defeat. Luffy kept walking towards his crew, but he had to stop before he got back on the Merry, pulling his straw hat down to cover most of his face. Zoro turned to look down at him and Nami did too, her eyes full of tears, lips trembling. Sanji did the same as Chopper stopped resisting him, everyone who was left watching their captain.

"It's too much." Luffy whispered, his voice barely heard over the wind. Zoro was feeling just has horrible as he was, seeing his captain trying to cover up his pain and his sadness behind the object that got him his epithet, like he was trying to hide behind the façade of the pirate Monkey D. Luffy, while he was just reduced to a man who was losing everything…reduced to just Luffy.

"This is what it means to be captain." Zoro replied, the truth in his words sounding harsh and understanding at the same time. "You can't doubt yourself. In times like these…" The sad and tearful faces of his crewmates sat in front of him as he spoke, "If you lost your confidence…then who can we have faith in? Let's pack our things and go. You know as well as me, after tonight…we can never return to the ship again." Zoro's heart ached as he finished speaking, taking charge as he respectfully ignored Luffy's tears. He couldn't bear to see his captain in that state and he couldn't bear to see the crew like this, so he stepped up and got them moving before they could dwell on their loss. They could mourn later, together and with dignity.

The crew got ready to leave after Chopper ran over to Ussop, leaving him all the medical supplies he'd need, even if the reindeer couldn't treat him personally, saving the man's pride. Luffy got onboard after his doctor, heading down the trap door to the men's room while the rest of the crew went up to the kitchen and storage rooms to start gathering everything. They left Luffy alone, knowing that he needed a moment to not be captain, so that he could keep his pride as well. The only one who did follow the young man down was Zoro, quietly climbing down the ladder and into the room that they'd all shared from the beginning of their journey. Luffy was standing in the middle of the room, shadowed by darkness since he'd neglected (or refused) to get a light. The swordsman waited for Luffy to acknowledge his presence, listening quietly as the rubber man sniffed and tried to muffle his soft sobs. The rubber man didn't turn around and didn't indicate that he knew Zoro was there so after a few minutes in the darkness, the swordsman spoke one word.

"Luffy." That one word had Luffy running into Zoro's arms, his straw hat falling to the ground and he buried his head in the swordsman's chest as he cried. The rubber man had thought he could hold it together until they got a new ship, until they left this miserable island behind, but he just couldn't. It was too much…too much to bear alone.

"Zoro…" Luffy's fists bunched into the other man's shirt, gripping the fabric harshly. "It hurts…it hurts so much…I can't breathe…!"

"I know it hurts." Zoro kissed the top of his lover's head and held him closely, enveloping the smaller man in his huge arms and tried to cover up this moment of weakness so that no one but him could see it. Luffy was strong, stronger than all of them, but this had him sobbing like a child, weak and stripped to the core as he lost one of his dear friends. Zoro didn't want to see it – he wanted to see Luffy smile and laugh – but this was a part of his love that he couldn't ignore. As much as they seemed like unstoppable, crazy monsters to everyone else, they were only human. Zoro hugged Luffy tighter, letting him soak his shirt in tears, giving him this one moment to be weak before they had to go. Luffy would be strong for them, he always was…so just this once…this one time while they were alone…he could be the strong one while Luffy was weak. That's what it meant to be first mate, that's what it meant to be a part of a crew, that's what it meant to be a partner, and that's what it meant to be a lover.

This is where anger and hurt had brought them, and what it had left in its wake was excruciating to bear.

Taking the Fall

And they'd landed themselves in another fine mess.

Luffy, Zoro, Chopper and Nami had broken into the Galley-La main office in an attempt to find Robin and get her back since Iceberg reasoned she'd be back to try and kill him again when Luffy had broken in to talk to him earlier that day, _after_ dealing with Franky's wrath for beating up his men. The Straw Hats were being blamed for the first assassination attempt on Iceberg's life, even if it was a lie, and they couldn't accept that Robin had betrayed them. So, they decided to pull some true criminal acts and broke into the main office. Luffy, of course, had put a wrench in their plan by running off ahead and then had the audacity to now take out the guys at the front gate (because he got smushed in between two buildings), putting Nami, Chopper and Zoro in a tight spot with fighting off the Galley-La shipwrights outside the main office. After fighting their way through a lot of men (and keeping Zoro from getting lost), the trio reached Iceberg's roomand burst through what was left of the door. At the same time, Luffy and Paulie smashed through the left side wall, creating more rubble. What was inside Iceberg's room was something that no one was expecting.

Lucci and Kaku, shipwrights from Dock 1, a man with bull horn hair and the secretary lady along with Robin were trying to kill and steal from Iceberg, attempting to gain the ultimate weapon, Pluton, for the World Government. They were CP9, a secret agency within the government with a license to kill in the name of justice, which is what they'd been sent to do in order to gain the blueprints for Pluton. The shock was devastating: Iceberg and Paulie were betrayed by people they thought they were friends, and Robin was a part of that betrayal, leaving behind her friends in order to fulfill some wish she had and throwing them in the fire despite the fact that she was wanted by the government herself. It was ridiculous! None of this made any sense! But that didn't stop Robin from leaving and that didn't stop Luffy from fighting to get her back.

Lucci had already knocked him down once, brushing off his Gum-Gum Gatling like it was nothing and then Finger Pistoling his throat until he slammed into a wall. These weird powers were tough, it even had Zoro shocked when Luffy hit the ground. CP9 was strong, this wasn't going to be an easy fight. They were backed up against the wall and still in the dark about so many things. Everything that they'd tried to keep together since they found out the Merry couldn't be saved was fracturing again, falling apart even more as Robin betrayed them.

"How could you do this?!" Was the question they were asking.

"I did it to make my wish come true. A wish that can't be granted as long as we're together." Was Robin's only answer, her face set with hard determination. "You may not find it fair, but to accomplish my goal, I'll make any sacrifice."

"I see," Zoro shot back, his face just as hard. "And that includes framing your crewmates for attempted murder. So what is this wish of yours?"

"I don't have to answer that question." She hissed.

"I don't care what you're trying to accomplish, the consequences are far too great!" A wounded Iceberg shouted from the floor where he was collapsed.

"I've heard enough! This is no longer your choice to make!" Robin glared at the blue-haired mand, raising her arms up and activating her Devil Fruit powers. "This should shut you up!" Arms sprouted from the Iceberg's back and the floor, twisting him into submission.

"Iceberg!" Paulie yelled. The Straw Hats were shocked at Robin's behavior, unable to reconcile her cruelty with the woman they'd come to know.

"I won't let anyone get in my way!" Robin declared, her low and menacing.

"Nothing you're saying is making any sense!" Luffy shouted, trying to get Robin to explain herself. "You expect me to believe this!?"

"Robin! What happened to you?!" Chopper asked, clearly distressed. "You're our friend, right!? Please Robin…come back!"

She never got to answer because Lucci was talking again, breaking up the conversation and stating that they were done here…and they were done with the Straw Hats too. Kalifa, the secretary lady, had apparently rigged some explosives that were about to go off and set the whole building on fire, burning everything and everyone still inside. And CP9 had no intention of letting anyone get out of this alive. And they were standing in between Robin and her former crew, blocking the Straw Hats from getting their friend back.

"Looks like it's going to be us against them. And our 'friend' Robin has clearly picked her side." Zoro stated, his hands going to his sheathed swords. "Luffy, Robin is not one of us anymore. Do you accept that now?" Chopper and Nami waited for his answer.

"No! No way!" Luffy yelled, refusing to lose someone else, refusing to lose any more of his friends to this damn island. Nothing good had happened to them here, and he was not going to let Robin get away from him before she told him why!

"So noisy." Lucci tsked. "Anyway, the first floor is about to set fire – it won't be pretty. But to be fair, the culprits are just pirates…you can't expect them to be stuble." His damn face was pissing Luffy off! And the fact that he was pinning all of this on them when they hadn't done anything wrong!

"You bastards!" Paulie hissed.

"That's nice of you to pin your attempted arson on us, but I think I'll pass." Nami leveled her Clima-Tact at the agents.

"What's one more crime?" The bull-horned man asked, "When we're just going to execute you anyway?"

"Well," Robin said, pulling up the hood of her green cloak. "I suppose I'll take my leave now."

"You've done exactly as you were told, good work." Lucci answered.

"Robin!" Luffy yelled, trying to get her to stay. "Don't go! You're still one of us!"

"This is farewell." Was all she said.

"Robin!" Chopper and Nami called out to her. The dark-haired woman walked towards the window.

"Stop her…Straw Hat…" Iceberg breathed, desperate to stop the woman who could destroy the world. Luffy didn't even need to be told as he was already running towards his friend, determined to beat the crap out of the three CP9 agents standing in front of him and get Robin back.

"We finally found you! I won't let you run away again!" He cried, chasing after her. "Out of my waaaaaay!" Luffy leapt up, ready to kick the bull-horn guy in the face.

"Iron Body." He intoned as the rubber man's foot crashed into his mouth, but he didn't move and he didn't get hurt either.

"How come nothing I do to these guys fazes them!?" Luffy asked as he landed on the floor, unnerved by the secret agents.

"In addition to our offensive techniques, our training has also given our bodies the capability to become as solid as an iron wall." The bull man explained. "Of course, your punches are weak to being with."

"Whatever! I said….'out of my waaaaaay!'" Luffy whipped his arms back and let loose a Gatling, trying to move the mountain of a man in front of him.

"Paper Art." The bull man said, his body moving faster than Luffy's fists could, dodging every punch sent his way.

"Even though he's big, he sure is fast!" Chopper gaped, watching as his captain failed to land even a single punch. This was unbelievable!

"He's moving like his body's made of paper!" Nami figured out the technique, but that didn't help Luffy one bit. Robin was still getting away!

"Oh, no! Robin!" Luffy stopped punching as he saw Robin almost reach the window and tried to move around the bull man, but he just blocked the rubber man's view again. He glared up at the agent, his eyes burning. "Move it." If looks could kill, Blueno would be dead. "Gum-Gum….PISTOL!" Luffy's signature punch came barreling at the man, but he said "Shave" and disappeared before it could connect, letting Luffy's attack fly wild.

"He disappeared!" The rubber man gasped, yanking his arm back into place.

"My legs are so strong that they can move faster than your eyes can see." The man's voice was coming from behind him! When did he get there!? Luffy didn't waste a moment in trying to punch him from behind, but Blueno leapt into the air and seemed to be jumping without hitting anything at all!

"Moon Walk." The bull man was near the tall ceiling now, hovering over Luffy. "In fact, I can even leap off of the air itself."

"Tempest Kick!" Kalifa and Kaku moved in, kicking Luffy right in the stomach. It looked like and ordinary kick, but something was off, Zoro could sense it. _A slashing attack?!_

"Get down!" He yelled at Nami and Chopper. "Hurry!"

"Why?" Nami asked and they all ducked. Luffy came flying past them and tumbled down the hallway, the kicks also slashing the walls in half and sending up gusts of air and dust.

"Luffy!" Chopper yelled as the man hit the ground behind them.

"They did all that with a single kick?!" Nami breathed, terrified of these people. "No way!"

"Technically, it was the sharp gust of wind that followed it." Kalifa explained, just for kicks. "We call it the 'Tempest Kick.'" Zoro didn't care what the hell it was called, but Luffy was down for the moment and he was the one who specialized in slashing attacks, so he shot into action, running full speed towards the long nosed guy who'd visited their ship yesterday. He drew the Yubashiri and attacked, his hand on the Kitetsu as Kaku countered with huge carpentry chisel.

"We met on your ship, didn't we? Roronoa." Kaku asked, already knowing the answer. Zoro growled and drew his second sword. That one was also countered by a huge chisel, and now the men were locked in a standoff, their strength pushing against their enemy with no give for the other.

"You said you people aren't real shipwrights," Zoro started, his voice strained from holding off the man. "So does that mean you lied about the Merry too?!" He had to know – he had to know if a lie had torn apart their crew, had hurt his captain and his friends…he had to know if these bastards had made Luffy cry for nothing! If they had, then he'd skewer them for messing with his boyfriend and for making his crew suffer.

"Unfortunately not." Kaku replied, one of his eyes hiding behind the brim of his cap. "I was quite honest about my assessment." With a huge push, Zoro threw the man off of him, sending Kaku leaping backwards as he attacked again. Kaku met him head on, trading blow for blow as their blades clashed and ran throughout the room for several long moments, everyone else watching in silence. Luffy finally yanked himself out of the rubble he'd been thrown into after the Tempest Kick and Robin had finally reached the window, opening it, letting the rising storm's wind rush into the room.

"Don't go, Robin!" He called, hoping that she'd stop. "We're not done talking yet!"

"No, it's over." Robin turned and looked her former captain in the eye, the night and the coming storm behind her. "This is the last time you'll see me."

"Robin!" Nami yelled, dismayed that her friend was actually going to leave them for good. Zoro's eyes narrowed, as he prepared to give Luffy a chance to get their crewmate back. He grunted, catching Kaku's chisels on his swords and cutting clean through them before slashing at the man again. The ducked, chucking his useless weapons away in the process.

"Luffy! Go after Robin!" Zoro called, knowing that he wasn't going to give up on the woman in spite of the swordsman's own opinions. "Don't let her get away!" Luffy roared as he ran, trying to reach Robin as she jumped onto the sill of the window.

"Confident, huh?" Kaku said upside down, having caught himself on one hand. "You really shouldn't take your eyes off of me!" Before the green-haired man had time to move, the agent flipped onto his feet and pointed his index finger, delivering three Finger Pistols to Zoro's chest and stomach, drawing blood just like a real gun would.

"ZORO!" Chopper screamed, horrified that a human hand could do that and that it hurt his friend. Zoro coughed up blood, falling to the floor in pain.

"Finger Pistol. It turns out that there are some things more deadly than bullets." Kaku mused. Zoro was down and Luffy never made it to Robin. Lucci stepped in and grabbed the man's face, holding him off the ground as the woman stepped out the window and disappeared, all their efforts to get her back in vain. They'd been beaten. Lucci threw Luffy to the left without any effort at all, getting ready for the next part of the beat down.

"I don't believe it…how can they be so strong?" Nami was trembling as Zoro peeled himself off the floor and as Luffy writhed on the floor.

"I knew you were tough but this is too much!" Palulie breathed, glaring down his former friends.

"We're not like you." Lucci elaborated. "As members of CP9, for as long as we can remember, we've trained to surpass the limits of the human body and vowed to hone those skills in to an instrument of absolute justice. The results of that training are the superhuman techniques known as the Six Powers. So now I'm sure that it's abundantly clear to you why the four of us are the government's most elite agents. And by the same token, you must also realize how miserably weak a band of pirates is in comparison."

There was almost nothing that the Straw Hats could do in this situation, they were out classed and bloodied while CP9 remained as fresh as ever. But that wasn't even the most horrible part of it all and Lucci was about to show them why. He transformed into a monster, his body growing to twice its size, bulking up and developing into the man-beast form of the Cat-Cat Fruit, Leopard Model. It was terrifying, staring into the face of a monster as the first floors of the Galley-La office blew up, the fire starting to spread through the building. His strength was monstrous, just like his body. He cut the entire main office in half with a Tempest Kick just to stop some workmen from getting up the stairs, burying Chopper under rubble as he pushed Nami out of the way and then the agent turned on Paulie as he was attempted to get Iceberg to safety. But he never got to attack because an angry fist decked him from ten feet away. Luffy screamed, readying another punch as he leapt up into the air. But Lucci was faster, brandishing his claws and digging one of them into the rubber man's gut as hard as he could.

"Finger Pistol."

"LUUUUUFFFFFYYY!" Zoro screamed, horrified at seeing the claw come out his captain's back covered in blood. Luffy could hardly breathe, pain and shock written in his wide eyes. Lucci dropped him and the man managed to land on his feet, wobbly, but still up, his hand on his bleeding wound. Lucci licked some of the blood off of his claw, smirking triumphantly. Zoro didn't know what to do, he was so terrified for his lover that he couldn't moved as the leopard man grabbed Luffy's face again and hurled him through the wall and out into the city to fall to his death or drown. The man's scream echoed, even in Aqua Lagoona's rising winds.

"LUFFY!" Nami wailed.

"Damn you!" Zoro hauled himself to his feet and ran at Lucci, anger and hate racing through his veins, as sharp as his swords.

"Iron Body." The agent hissed as Zoro's sword connected with his arm, stopping the blade from cutting him. He wheeled around and kneed the swordsman in the chest and sending him flying out of the building in the opposite direction of where Luffy had flown, leaving nothing but the Kitetsu behind where he'd dropped it.

"ZORO!" Nami screamed again, watching her friend disappear one by one. She was the only one left now, alone in a room full of murderous monsters.

"Now…it's your turn." Lucci threatened, turning on the woman, towering over her. The navigator scooted back, her body trembling as the monsters advanced on her, their eyes unforgiving and void of any mercy. She screamed again, but it was cut off all too soon.

CP9 left the main office in flames, their mission with the Galley-La company and the Straw Hat pirates at an end. They had much more important things to worry about now.

Rock and a Hard Place

 _They picked up the life I'd given up on…returned the heart that I lost…and continued the dreams that I no longer believed in…even after all I've done, I found friends who will still believe in me!_

 _Then what is your wish?_

 _That excluding me, all the other Straw Hat pirates will be able to leave this island safely!_

"Luffy! Zoro! Where are you guys!?" Nami screamed, zooming through town on her yagara with the rest of the Galley-La shipwrights and Chopper. She'd missed the train at the station but they still had to go after Robin! She was their friend and she was sacrificing herself for them! They had to know, that way they'd get off their asses and help save their crewmate! "Zoro! Luffy!"

As they searched, the Galley-La men ended up at the edge of the Ship Building Island, looking out at the dried up sea that Aqua Lagoona had claimed. The sea was going to send massive waves up against the island and no one knew just how devastating it was going to be. Nami ran up to the edge, trying to catch her breath when she noticed Kokoro and Chimney and Gonbe standing on the rail, looking out to the sea. Chimney was shouting something, trying to get her granny's attention and it caught Nami's too.

"There's something in between those two buildings! Come on, Granny! Look! Look!" The little girl pointed far out into the Back

"Kokoro!" Nami called, surprised to see them there.

"Oh, if it isn't the pirate girl!" Kokoro laughed, taking a drink from her ever-present bottle.

"Heeeey! Miss Pirate Lady!" Chimney called out to Nami while hanging onto her granny's leg, her hair and body being pulled by the strong winds. "Look! Look over there! I see something!"

"Like what?" Nami walked up to the rail and jumped up, wrapping her arms around the rail as far as she could and hauled herself up.

"Just what are you going on about, Chimney?" Kokoro asked, but Nami was more concerned about the lack of water in the ocean, if that was even a thing!

"No way! What happened to the sea!?" The navigator gaped at the desolation of the ocean floor, horrified by what Aqua Lagoona had in store. But that wasn't the only thing she was gaping at, having looked where Chimney had been pointing. Deep in the exposed Back Streets, wedged tightly between two towers, was Luffy! He was barely visible, his rubber body stuck and pinched and jammed into an almost immovable spot, his straw hat in just as bad of a state.

"Lu…ffy…!" Nami slid of the rail, her hands clenching into fists and trembling. _He's alive! And he's so dead!_

"Straw Hat? Isn't that your King-of-the-Pirates captain?" Kokoro asked.

"Well, huh?" Chimney followed up. Nami's face contorted into one of rage and she started booking it across the island, headed for the huge stairs that lead down into the Back Streets.

"Hey! Hold on! Where do you think you're going?!" Kokoro shouted, worried for the girl. "Don't go down to the Back Streets! It's dangerous!" The rest of the shipwrights caught wind of Kokoro's shouts and all started calling for Nami, trying to get her to stay.

"Hey! Wait!"

"Somebody stop that woman!"

"Come back!" But Nami had too much of a head start as she dashed down the stairs, reaching the first landing and leaping onto the side rail. She caught her breath for a moment before back up as much as she could, her feet digging into the ground as she prepared to run.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF!? AQUA LAGOONA IS GOING TO HIT ANY MINUTE! COME BACK!" Kokoro gave one last desperate scream before Nami was running again, hitting the edge of the rail and jumping out over a twenty story fall to her death. She was reaching for the nearest roof of the Back Streets, reaching the peak of her jump and then started to fall. Her heels hit the roof and she managed to stay on her feet as wet and slippery as it was and ran again. She traveled like that, leaping from one roof to the next, desperately trying to reach Luffy, to tell him about Robin, to get his ass moving so that they could save their friend. It was dangerous, yes. It was reckless, yes. But she had to do it, and she did do it. If she slipped, she was dead, if she slipped, Luffy was dead, if she slipped, Robin was dead. She couldn't slip! She couldn't fall! Breath heaving, Nami jumped across another drop and landed precariously on another rooftop before barreling forward to do it again and again. She could see the wave approaching on the horizon, the devastating destruction of Aqua Lagoona was rearing its head. Her only chance to survive was to get Luffy out of that damn building so he could carry to her safety. She kept running. But soon she was at her limit – chest heaving, breath gone, tossed about by the wind and out of rooftops to jump on, she leapt onto the closest roof to Luffy's building and hit the shingles. Her legs collapsed, exhausted and wet and slippery and she skidded to a halt painfully, bruised and battered after her insane run.

"This is it…I can't go any further!" She panted, standing up at the looking for Luffy. His building was right in front of her, across from a plaza that was normally filled with water. There he was! The rubber man was still wedged in the same spot, and Nami prayed that he was breathing – that he was alive. The horrible memories of Lucci stabbing him and picking him up like a rag doll were still fresh in her mind, but he couldn't be dead! He just couldn't! There! He moved! He was wiggling around, his arm twitching in his uncomfortable entrapment. He was alive! But as glad as she was that he was alive, she was so pissed at him!

"LUFFY!" She screamed, panting as she still caught her breath. "YOU IDIOT! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!"

"Nami!?" Luffy shouted back, his voice sounding as smushed at his body was. "Where are you!? I can't see!" He grunted and growled, renewing his struggled to get unstuck. "Okay, listen! It's not my fault! That pigeon guy sent me flying and I got stuck between these buildings, so I can't move! I'm trying though!" He was apologizing and it wasn't his fault but it still hurt Nami to see him in such a ridiculous state when their friend was going to be tortured and executed…all because of them! Tears ran down the navigator's face, unable to hold back her sadness and frustration as she remembered Robin's bright smile along with all she'd done for them.

"Is this a joke to you!?" She yelled, her voice raw and full of anguish. "We don't have time for this! Those guys from the government took Robin away and you weren't even there to help! She did it all for us, you know! She's going to sacrifice herself!" Nami broke down sobbing, completely unable to stop her tears now. "The government was planning on attacking us but Robin turned herself over to CP9 so we would be safe! She knew they would kill her but she didn't care!"

"Then…Robin was lying…?! This whole time?!" Luffy asked, unsure of whether or not Nami heard him. He was so glad, Robin was still their friend! But she was also gone, gone for their sakes. "I'm glad!" And that's when he saw the wave, the wave that was going to drown him and kill Nami if he didn't do something. But…he had a promise to make. He'd keep his crew safe! "Don't worry! I'm not going to let Robin die!" And with that, Luffy pushed with all of his might, his scrawny arms filling with a strength that threw most of his enemies for a loop when he attacked them. Luffy didn't look very strong, but he was unstoppable when he got down to business, and this building…it was nothing compared to everything that they'd faced! This storm was nothing! Their past pains were nothing compared to what Robin was going to go through and he wasn't going to let that happen!

The wave was here, towering over the island like a vengeful god, powerful enough to destroy the Back Streets and wrack Water Seven with devastating quakes.

The storm had arrived, in more ways that one.

The building groaned, and split and finally broke apart, caving to the strength of one man on a mission. Luffy broke the towers and freed himself with a monstrous howl before grabbing Nami with his long arm and catapulting them towards the bridge off of another tall tower. If they could just get to the Ship Bulidng Island, then they'd be safe.

"Nami! Let's go!" Luffy recoiled both of his arms, bringing Nami close to him and getting them up onto the next building before reaching for the next one, the wave close behind them. It started wrecking buildings as it made land fall, crashing through the town with unbelievable force. Soon the pair was jumping off of shatter rooftops and rubble that the sea had made, barely scraping by with each jump. Nami was screaming as she held onto her captain and Luffy's arm wrapped around her tighter, keeping a strong hold on his crewmate. _One more! Just one more!_ Luffy slung his arm out to catch the side of the huge bridge that led up to the Ship Bulding Island and threw himself and Nami towards it. They flew, landing on the bridge at the same time Zoro and Chopper appeared out of nowhere and landed on the bridge as well. Nami landed on top of Luffy, crushing the air out of him and Zoro hit the ground hard as well, Chopper being the only one who'd landed on their feet.

Luffy sat up to catch his breath and check on his crew. Zoro was down but he was breathing and Nami and Chopper were looking at each other with relieved looks on their faces. Everyone was back and they knew where Sanji, Robin and Ussop were! The huge wave had been stopped by the stair-bridge but it was building up behind them and would overflow onto the stairs any moment. They had to move! Luffy gasped as the wave broke on top of the bridge and came towards them, ready to swallow them up kill every last one of them. Nami and Chopper screamed as the wave collapsed over them, Luffy jumping and reaching for his friends. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't see and he couldn't do anything as the wave washed past him and up the bridge.

He didn't make it in time to grab his crew, but he grabbed onto something else instead as the water flowed over him, trying to drag him out to sea. It was a rope! The rope pulled on his arm, yanking him out of the water after a few endless moments of near drowning and dropped him and Nami and Chopper and Zoro onto the breaking bridge. Luffy coughed, getting his strength back after being released from the sea and looked up to see Paulie standing in front of him. The shipwright had saved them!

"HURRY!" Paulie yelled, looking behind them. "We're not safe yet! Run to Ship Building Island!" Luffy didn't need to see to know that another wave was behind them, so he just started running, picking up Nami and dashing like hell towards higher ground. Zoro grabbed a now-small Chopper and ran with him, catching up to Paulie as they charged towards solid ground.

"Hurry! Run for it!"

"The bridge is done for!" The rest of the shipwrights were shouting at them, encouraging the group from a supposedly safe place and Luffy hauled Nami up on his shoulder and ran faster. They leapt up onto the main island, the wave that was nipping at their heels crashing into the wall behind them, finally stopped by the island. They collapsed onto the ground, soaked, tired and thoroughly frightened. "You morons. You're lucky to be alive." Paulie huffed, lighting a new cigar for himself, though Luffy didn't know how he did it in the rain. He must've had Sanji powers.

"Thanks, you saved us, Rope Guy." Luffy panted.

"I didn't know Aqua Lagoona would be like that." Nami rubbed her arms, trying to come to terms with the power of the storm. "I can't stop shaking!"

"If it was that bad every year, we'd be sunk." Paulie growled, spooked by the storm as well. "I'm just as surprised as you folks are. This ain't normal at all."

"You pirates are just one step shy of crazy!" Kokoro chuckled, relieved that her new friends were safe. "You're lucky to be alive right now."

"Oh hey, Monster Granny! I didn't know you were here too!" Luffy sat up and addressed Kokoro.

"I may be drunk but I'm not stupid enough to say at sea during this storm!"

"You were awesome, Mr. Pirate!" Chimney ran up behind her cackling grandmother and started jabbering. "Your arms were like boing boing!"

"Naa! Naa!" Gonbe added.

"Yeah! I now!"

Chopper was so scared that he was still clinging onto Zoro's face where he'd latched himself and wouldn't let the swordsman breathe after his sprint, but the man finally pulled him off and took great lungfuls of air.

"I was gonna die!" Zoro shouted at a passed out Chopper. "Little turd! Don't put my face in that death grip and pass out!" And his out burst got Luffy's attention.

"Hey, Zoro! What were you dong down there when the wave hit? Couldn't you get away?" He asked, puzzled as to why his boyfriend was down there as well.

"Oh, um, yeah, you know." It was too embarrassing to tell him was happened! And at the moment, Chopper conveniently woke up and spilled the beans.

"Zoro got stuck in a chimney!" The swordsman's face dropped into mortification as his secret got out and he turned on the fuzz ball in his hands, his face shadowing in the night as his hand came up to choke him.

"You got stuck in a chimney?" Luffy's eyes went wide in astonishment and then he burst into laugher. "Zoro, you dope! I couldn't be that lame if I tried!" And at that moment, Nami leapt up like an avenging goddess and decked her dope captain.

"Don't forget you did the same thing twice!" She growled, baring her fangs. And that's when Luffy realized that they were still missing two – one – person.

"Where's Sanji and Usso-I mean, Sanji?" Nami got Luffy back up to speed with the facts that Ussop, Franky and Sanji were all on the Sea Train with Robin and CP9, and that Robin was giving herself up so that her friends could leave Water Seven safely.

"So, let me get this straight: you're saying that Robin sacrificed herself to protect us?" Zoro asked, after hearing the whole story.

"That's right." Nami nodded.

"And Ussop and the cook are on the train with her…" Zoro scratched his head and looked over at Luffy, who'd got up and walked over to the rail to look out at the sea, as if he were searching for Robin already. "Well, what should we do, captain?"

"There's only one thing to do…set off and rescue them right away! Let's move our asses. We're saving Robin." Came the reply.

"Aye, aye, captain!"

Runaway Train

Rocket Man was cool, it was crazy and it was hella fast! The second the wheels hit the track, Luffy and Chimney and Gonbe were blown away, right into the Franky Family's boat where they were stopped by the Herculean Destroyer's stomachs. But the train was so damn fast that they were stuck there for a few minutes until the initial burst of speed slowed enough and steadied out in a reckless dash across the water. Luffy grabbed the little girl and her rabbit-cat and crawled up to Rocket Man, scuttling around the side until he could open a window and throw himself inside.

"You weren't kidding, Monster Granny! This thing is fast! Shi shi shi!" Luffy laughed like a crazy person as he dragged himself and Chimney inside after Rocket Man had hit the train track.

"I thought I was a goner!" Luffy and Chimney sighed, looking just as surprised and rattled at the rest of the Straw Hats, the three Galley-La shipwrights and the few members of the Franky Family that were inside the main car.

"You almost were!" Kokoro yelled, sitting the pair down on the couch with her. "I told you if you didn't get inside you were going to be blown away!" She snapped again.

"That speed was crazy!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I told you." Kokoro folded her arms.

"She's right! That was rough!" Tilestone shout-spoke.

"Ow, hurt my back." Lulu rubbed his aching back. The two of them and Paulie were sitting next to Zoro and that's when the sword's man noticed the extra baggage.

"Hold on a second." He stated. "There are a few more people in here than there should be.

"Yeah? Who do you mean?" Tilestone and Lulu asked.

"He means you!" Paulie yelled.

"I mean you too!" Zoro snapped.

In the end, all three groups ended up having a common enemy: the government. Luffy and his crew were going after Robn who'd been captured by CP9, the Franky Family was going after their bro who was also captured by CP9 and the Galley-La shipwrights were going to avenge Iceberg, who'd been attacked by CP9. They all had the same enemy and a common goal, so what was the harm in working together for a little bit? The three groups set aside their scuffles that had happen back on Water Seven and made an alliance with each other to oppose the government, and that wasn't even the most surprising part: it had all been Luffy's idea!

Trains weren't the only thing that seemed to be running away apparently.

Oh, there was one more runaway thing…and it was the waves! Aqua Lagoona was going to smash the train into bits if they didn't do something about it! Kokoro wasn't able to slow, stop or turn the train once it was on the track, so it was up to the Straw Hats, Galley-La and the Franky Family to get through the storm and make it to Enies Lobby as safely as they could, and if they couldn't do that, they'd die in the storm.

After having made their alliance, the Galley-La men along with the Franky Family ran up to the roof of the Sea Train and the Family's ship to try and break up with wave with a series of cannonballs. No matter how much they tried or what kind of force they used, they just couldn't break up the wave enough to save the sea train.

"Hey, Luffy." Zoro said, looking up at the roof, hearing the shakes and quakes of the cannonballs outside. It didn't sound like the guys were having much luck with the wave.

"Yeah, that big wave's asking for it, huh?" Luffy swung his arm around to warm it up for a fight. He and Zoro climbed up onto the roof of Rocket Man and got ready to do their thing.

Luffy stared stretching out his body to limber it up, the storm and the soakings he'd had that evening making him stiff with cold and Zoro stretched out into a low lunge, hand on the iron roof of the train, concentrating all his energy for his attack. But with their appearance, the rest of the guys had stopped firing. Even with Luffy and Zoro, they were going to need all the help they could get.

"Hey! Keep those cannons firing!" Zoro snapped, growling at the Franky Family and Galley-La.

"'Kay, but what are you guys planning on doing?" Paulie asked as the Franky Family opened fire again. Luffy slipped his hat off, letting it hand by its string on his back and cracked his neck. Zoro stood and drew the Wado Ichimonji out of its sheath, placing the hilt in his mouth.

"Same thing as you." The swordsman replied. "Watch." He dared. The wave was almost on them and Rocket Man's whistle sounded, the shrill noise rising into the sky like a challenge to the sea. Luffy and Zoro stood on opposite side of Rocket Man's chimney, resolute and ready for action.

"Hey! How much is a hundred and eight times two?" Luffy asked, really sucking at math.

"Two hundred and sixteen." Zoro replied, not sucking at math.

"Two hundred and sixteen, huh? That's too long." Luffy sighed. Their conversation wasn't making any sense to the rest of the men, but it seemed to be important to them at least. "Can't we round up or something?"

"Fine, make it three hundred then." Zoro pulled out his other two swords and set the dull side of the Yubashiri on his shoulder.

"I don't get it. What do they think they're doing?" A Franky man asked.

"If cannons don't work what good are swords going to do?" Another asked.

"Well, they did say we should keep fighting though." Another added.

"Stop yapping and back them up!" Zambai yelled, spurring his men back into action. The cannons resumed their fire once again and Luffy was swinging his arm around and around, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Okay! Ready?!" Luffy called to his boyfriend.

"Uh huh." Zoro answered.

"GUM-GUM…" Luffy started a Gatling while Zoro swung his swords up to the right and across his back.

"Three Hundred Caliber…" He continued.

"WE'RE GONNA CRASH!" The Franky Family wailed as the wave came on top of them.

"CANNON!" Luffy and Zoro shouted, finishing their attacks and combining them into something much more powerful. The ensuing force punched a giant hole through the wave, big enough for the Sea Train, the King Bulls and the Franky's ship to pass through with room to spare. Which it did, quite flashily, with the gaping mouths of the Galley-La shipwrights and the Franky family shouting in disbelief. They'd punched a hole through a wave! A freaking wave! It didn't make any sense but it was the best thing ever! Now they just had to get through the wave before the hole closed up! The train swayed left and then right, and then dipped and climbed and then did the left and right thing again, scaring everyone on board and sending them tumbling back. And then the left right thing happened again before the end could be see and then Rocket man was careening out of the wave and back onto the sea all in one piece.

"WE MADE IT!" Every one outside was yelling and smiling and astonished that they were still alive. But Zoro and Luffy just shrugged and smiled at each other as the swordsman sheathed his blades again and went to go back inside. Luffy went in first, sliding his feet and hips through the car window while still holding onto the outside. He breathed a sigh of relief and smiled hugely.

"Wow! That was really fun!" Luffy chuckled.

"I knew you guys were strong but that was something else!" The pink clothed woman Kiwi exclaimed.

"Are you an alien or something? 'Cuz that was totally out of this world!" The yellow clothed woman Mozu added. And then Luffy was kicked from behind and thrown across the floor as Zoro slipped into the car, taking his captain's place halfway in the window.

"Whoops. Sorry about that." He apologized.

"Zoro!" Luffy growled, jumping to his feet and baring his fangs at the man.

"I said I was sorry." Zoro leapt down and landed safely on the floor, leaning down and kissing Luffy's cheek in a second apology.

"Huh?! Are they-?!" Mozu and Kiwi gasped, striking dramatically shocked poses as Luffy leapt onto the swordsman's chest and demanded another while wrapping his legs around the other's hips. Zoro replied with a soft kiss to the young man's lips before walking over to Nami who'd called them over to talk to Sanji through the Den-Den Mushi he'd left for them. "They _ARE_!" The sisters then started giggling to themselves and collapsed into laughter on the couch with Kokoro.

"You guys aren't one step shy of crazy, you _are_ crazy!" Kokoro amended her earlier statement as she saw the crazy pirate captain hang off of his apparent boyfriend.

 _"_ _That you Luffy?"_ The snail asked, his voice sounding like Sanji's. Luffy took the receiver from Nami and held it up to his mouth.

"Yep! It's me!" He replied to the snail. "You save Robin?"

 _"_ _No, sorry. I'm afraid I'm still working on that one."_ The snail said again with Sanji's voice. _"_ _Nami just told me why Robin surrendered and all of that stuff…so yeah…I know what's going on."_

"I see." Luffy jumped off of Zoro and crouched on the ground. "That's good. Well, you know what's next. Go ahead…give 'em hell, Sanji." Luffy let his cook off of the leash, knowing that Sanji wouldn't be content just to sit and wait for them now that he knew.

"What?!" Nami exclaimed. Chopper started screaming again.

"Now, hold on!" Zoro interrupted, drawing Luffy's attention. "He'll die if he fights them now! If he wants to stand a chance he's got to wait for us!" The swordsman shouted towards the receiver that his boyfriend was holding and addressed Sanji. "Hey, cook! Can you hear me? Some of those guys on that train are really tough! You shouldn't-"

"Zoro!" Luffy cut him off, knowing that the man was just being cautious after their last scuffle with CP9, but it wouldn't help. "It's fine. If it was you…would you wait?"

"Hm?"

"If you were on that train right now instead of him, and I told you that Robin sacrificed herself to protect us…would you sit there and do nothing?" They already knew the answer: none of them would wait, no matter the consequences. "It's no use trying to stop him."

 _"_ _Read me like a book."_ Sanji said, his smile copied onto the face of the snail. _"_ _But thanks, Moss Head, I never knew that you cared about me so much!"_ He teased. _"_ _I thought Luffy was the only one that you cared for!~"_

"I hope they kill you!" Zoro snapped, blushing just the slightest bit as the cook got under his skin. Mozu and Kiwi were laughing again, enjoying the banter between the Straw Hats and figuring out on their own that the swordsman was the butt of many jokes when it came to his relationship with their captain. It was funny!

 _"_ _Anyway, that settles it."_ Sanji continued. " _I was willing to fight for Robin even before I knew the truth, and now that I know how she really feels, I wouldn't stop even if you begged me!"_ And that's when the snail disconnected unexpectedly, something on Sanji's end messing up the call and the snail went to sleep.

"I hope he's okay on his own." Nami sighed, coming to terms with Sanji running wild on that train full of government officials and secret agents.

"Granny, hurry! Make the train go faster!" Luffy called.

"Faster?" Kokoro asked again.

"Yeah! More like _zooooooom_! You know?" Luffy punched his arm out quickly and then like it come back into place slowly.

"Oh don't you worry." She smiled wider than her normal smile. "This baby is already going faster than it was ever supposed too!"

And after that things just got silly. And it's because Nami had to change. The woman needed new clothes because her were soaked and ripped and she had to switch outfits in the one car they had with all the rest of the men in it. Tilestone, Lulu and Zambai ended up with nosebleeds and Paulie was so outraged that he called Nami "immoral girl" again. He also turned on Mozu and Kiwi for their bikini and tank out fits that bared their legs and stomachs. However, they just laughed it off and called the man shy, dubbing him "shy boy" and making him blush angrily.

"If you're going to get mad at us, then you're going to have to get mad at them too." Nami hooked a thumb over her shoulder to where Luffy and Zoro were shirtless and pantless in their own attempts to get changed, and it was an attempt because Luffy was glomming onto Zoro, both only in their underwear. And even if they weren't "fooling around" they were still fooling around, or Luffy was as he tried to yank down Zoro's underwear for a laugh.

"Stop it Luffy!" The swordsman tried to pry the younger man off of him, but Luffy just stretched and held onto his torso.

"I'm gonna get them! Shi shi shi!" Luffy's fingers crept closer to Zoro's waist band, threatening to yank away his only protection.

"This is seriously messed up." Paulie groaned, still blushing. "What is wrong with them!? We're supposed to be getting ready to fight the government and all you're doing is goofing off!"

"But we're not there yet!" Luffy argued with a smile. "Technically, we're still changing!"

"These guys are hilarious!" Mozu and Kiwi watched in amusement.

"Put some clothes on!" Nami shrieked, punching the pair of idiots and sending them crashing into the floor. Mozu and Kiwi dissolved into giggles again, tears leaking out of the corners of their eyes as they held their stomachs.

"Aye, aye, captain." The pair groaned.

"Wait! I'm the captain!" Luffy retorted, and then he chuckled because no matter their situation, he was glad that his crew never changed. And soon, they'd be back together!

 _Just you wait Robin! We're coming for you!_

"Seriously, put some clothes on."

A/N: And there you go! The end was a lot more light hearted that the beginning so I hope that part was enjoyable at least. Stay tuned for more updates! See ya! ;3


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